Sonic X Series 2, ADVANCED
by Kojiokida2
Summary: Continuing on from where my previous fic ended. The Metal Overlord has been defeated, but do things go back to normal for Sonic? Not a hope in hell. Finally, this great work is complete; and the third series is set to begin.
1. Episode 1, part 1

Before I start, let me sum up the reason I'm doing this.….the original Sonic X _(The one that played on Japanese TV_) had limitless potential, but someone heading up the production had obviously seen too much of AoStH. Eggman was a joke, his sidekicks were Japanese knockoffs of Scratch and Grounder, Shadow was only in for six episodes and they included the ultimate blasphemy that could be committed by a sonic anime. THEY DIDN'T INCLUDE METAL SONIC!!!!! For shame!!! Their plot lines, apart from the Sonic adventure ones, were poor. _(But the Sonic Adventure ones don't count as the anime plots since they didn't make them up themselves_.) Like many political campaigns, many promises, few deliverances..

This new fic series is entitled the Sonic X Advanced project. With this, I'm going to try and drive the Sonic X universe away from what it was, _(a Rather crap AU to be honest) _and toward the fantastic series we were all expecting when the first episode made it's pilot run.

****

(In other words…less of Chris and more action and plot!)

(Note: This is not a continuation of the anime, well it is…but from my alternative Sonic Heroes ending. Check my fanfic page for it.)

* * *

It was quiet, far too quiet for the G.U.N defenders taste. After the blaring alarms at the base, they expected the air to be full of enemy robots attempting an attack by now. Instead, there was only a unnerving silence, the desert air around their large pilot-able robotic walkers cold and dry, and very still. The moon, it's now partially moonlight lit the dark crevices, letting the pilots stare only about a few feet into the gloom before all became swallowed by the night. Blaring searchlights from the base behind them furiously searched the clouded sky above.

Then they came, dark shapes souring across the sky with huge metallic wings and a large bulky body, each one twice the size of an aeroplane. There were at least five of them, descending quickly out of the low cloud bank, red lights on the tips of their wings. Painted on the left hand side was the image of a sneering face with dark glasses, goggles behind the large bald head and an oversized ginger-brown moustache.

On the underbelly of each craft, large doors swung open with a loud clank and as they soured toward the G.U.N military base, keeping high enough to avoid the large columns of rock that jutted out of the rocky landscape, smaller yet large shapes unto themselves began to pour out of them. These new shapes came bellowing down toward the ground, a parachute opening behind each of them as soon as they were clear of the craft. Each one was twice the size of the G.U.N robotic walkers, with large triangular heads and bulky arms, on the end of each limb was either a large mechanical hand in a tight fist or an automatic machine gun. Two spherical yellow eyes stood out of either side of the head, shielding only partially by two sheets of metal.

As soon as the last of their troops had been dropped, the craft quickly began to ascend, desperately trying to reach the safety of the clouds. One however passed over the G.U.N base and was brought down by relentless anti-aircraft fire, collapsing to the ground in broad sheets of ragged metal and fire.

"This is the Alpha base, requesting immediate back up. We have come under attack from Eggman Empire drop shifts, I repeat, requesting immediate backup!" The same request was blared from the control tower over the radio, trying desperately to alert the only other base in the area, which was ten miles away on the other side of the desert. Even if they did receive the message through the jamming signal being put over by some of the advancing robot troops, it would take them far too long to mount any kind of contour attack.

The robots of the Eggman Empire were ruthlessly efficient. They didn't have to rely on a human mind to direct them. They had limited artificial-intelligence, but enough for them to act together in formations, applying advanced strategy to any kind of attack and defence. Every now and again, the Empire would deploy their troops to attack military bases on the frontier, disappearing before backup ground troops arrived, leaving any base they attacked in near ruin, and because G.U.N's present technology level did not allow them to move militaristically in outer space, the Empire could remain safe from contour attack on their Final Egg headquarters.

"BANZAAIIII!"

There was a loud crashing sound, the air rippling like some source of intense heat had been introduced and three of the Eggman Empire's dreadnaughts fell to the ground, large holes torn through their metallic shells, wires hanging out of their wounds, sparking with tiny bolts of lightning.

The remain few in that area paused to look back, only to come crashing down as a blue blur leapt up directly in front of them, something landing an unbelievably fast kick straight across their large heads, knocking them sideways, spiralling before they hit the ground. "I should come out here for night time runs more often!" The blue hedgehog said, standing up to his length. The four months since the defeat of the Metal Overlord had changed him. His quills were slightly longer, each down behind his head, partially obscuring the fused quills on his back. His legs had grown longer, and as such, he had developed a powerful kick. His old, red buckled sneakers had long since worn out and now clad on his feet were a pair of the latest SOAP shoes, kept in the original red and white colours. His eyes had remained the same, bright and full of teenage youth and energy even in the dark of night. Now he had revealed himself, the remaining Eggman Empire robots swung about, their sensors analysing the new figure that stood before them.

"Subject identified: Primary Enemy target, combat systems engaged." Their yellow eyes turned to red and each one of them abandoned their attack on the base and came souring toward him. A wide grin crossed Sonic's face as he crouched into a fighting stance, one hand head in front and one behind, feet slightly apart. All robots of the Empire had subliminal program built into their systems, as soon as Sonic was sighted, all robotic units within a one miles radius would instantly be switched to combat mode, locked directly onto him.

As Sonic began a free for all fight, from the top of a large column of rock that jutted out from a nearby ridge, Shadow gazed down with some amusement. He'd been there for some time, simply watching. He had been ready to jump into the fray to fight the Empire himself, but then he saw Sonic coming and refrained. After all, he was curious to see exactly how much Sonic had improved since they last meet, joining together to become the entity known as Nazo. As he'd expected, Sonic's speed, agility and strength had drastically increased. He could see a drastic improvement in his movements, almost fluent like now. Before, it was like he simply dived into the fight without thinking, his punches and kicks without rhythm or organisation.

Shadow had changed as well of course. Like Sonic his spines and legs had become longer, and the red highlight of each had widened. The small tuft of white fur on his chest had grown so it obscured his shoulders from view. As impressive as Sonic's fighting skill now was, that did not mean that Shadow's had remained constantly the same level. He too had improved, and one day soon he would show Sonic exactly how much.

S, O, N, I, C GO!

S, O, N, I, C GO! Go, Go, Go, Go Let's go!

Since yesterday's rule,  
today is simply loose,  
The best goal is breaking them,

Unless I can keep on running,  
There is no other meaning for me,  
That's some kind of punk philosophy,

Bio rhythm is 2 by rhythm,  
The scenery is in a countless instant's line,  
The wind surrounds me,

Inside Outside Attack,  
Everything surpasses all at once,  
Who is one too, what is one too,  
What we can do before we can't,

Inside Outside GO! SONIC!  
Everything's adding up Yes! SONIC!  
"Look out" and "Have A Nice" look alike,  
Well, the difference is as thin as paper,  
Take off and throw away that boredom, right now start running!

S, O, N, I, C GO!   
S, O, N, I, C GO!   
Go, Go, Go, Go Let's go!

****

Sonic X; ADVANCED

Nack saga

Episode 1: The bad boy in town

Massive change, brought about by the new technology available after the defeat of the Egg Fleet and the Metal Overlord, was apparent everywhere. The very heart of this new, miraculously, pollution free industry was Station Square. Using the new, steam reliant technology to repair the city, Station Square had been transformed nearly overnight into a technological paradise.

Custom made robots were in use everywhere, as police enforcers, bellboys, life-guards and in heavy labour. Those who could afford them could purchase robots for ordinary house work and although they had the money for ten robotic servants, the Thorndyke estate remained free of robot helpers. Tanaka the Butler, Ella the Maid and Mr. Stuart the Gardener seemed like all the old place actually needed. Although Chuck did order a lot of the new technology for his experiments inside his garage, that was all of this new futuristic that was allowed inside the grounds. Over the last mouth or two he'd become obsessed with the robot Sonic had brought him, the extremely damaged remains of Metal Sonic. Chuck believed that he could repair it now he'd been able to study the technology pulled from the wreckage of the Egg Fleet.

Chris sat on a deck chair on the balcony that opened out from a pair of French windows from his bedroom. From here, he could see the new towering sky scrappers already being constructed and finished in the city centre. In fact, it was hard not to see them from anyway. They were higher than any building built before and there were at least a dozen of them, if not more, their tops dragging wisps of cloud through the air. It wouldn't be long before the entire city was full of them. It was happening everywhere, every country in the world was quick to update themselves with the new technology for fears of being left behind in this new age. Chris hadn't actually seen them, but an E-mail from a relative in New York said that adaptation there was even more drastic and spectacular. Chris had, reluctantly, had a growth spurt and now stood nearly as tall as his grandfather. His hair was longer too now, reaching down his neck and lightly brushing his shoulders. It was boarding on the verge of being long enough to tie back, but Chris liked it this length.

In a few short days his summer vacation would be over and then it was off to high school. The good news was; they didn't require uniform as he'd feared. The only problem that was gnawing at his mind was the sheer amount of work he would be expected to do. It wasn't the fact that he wasn't prepared to do it, it was just that spending so much time on homework and the like would leave him little time to be with his friends, Danny, Francis, Cream, Cheese, Amy, Tails, Sonic and especially…

The mobile phone on the table next to him rang and without thinking he picked it up.

"Hey Chris…" Came the voice down the other end of the line before he could so much as speak. Helen, the Blonde disabled girl he'd known from his old school. He would never actually admit this to anyone, but lately she infatuated him.

"Hi Helen." He said with a strong blush despite himself. Before any of them could actually starting talking however, some let out a wild and deafeningly loud yell that sounded a lot like a cowboy's,

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHAAAAAA!"

"Chris…what was that?" Helen asked on the other end of the phone.

"Sorry Helen, got to run, I'll call you back." Chris said in a near rush, putting the phone down before he'd even finished speaking. He quickly crossed over to the edge of the balcony to watch his Grandfather's garage, as it was in this general direction the scream had come from. Chris hadn't actually seen Chuck since he reclined to his laboratory about a week or two, obsessed with fixing Metal Sonic. Tanaka was the only one who spoke with him, or at least got to see him as he was the one who delivered the meals up to the garage. Chuck locked his room after that, refusing to let even Ella in to do the vacuuming, which infuriated the maid to no end.

There was a loud screaming sound and without warning, Chuck came dancing out of the garage door, literally dancing. His legs seemed to be doing a bizarre cross between a Waltz and River Dance. Mr. Stuart, Chris' former teacher was presently tending to the roses outside the garage and was nearly knocked him over into his wheelbarrow.

"Mr. Thorndyke, do you mind?" Their Gardener asked angrily, forcing himself out of the pile of thorns he'd culminated inside it. Chuck wasn't listening, he was still dancing across the lawn. Chris raced down the stairs and outside through the French windows downstairs.

"Grandpa, is everything alright?" Chuck turned around widely on one heal, his eyes wide with excitement.

"Everything's better than alright Chris my boy!" He said, putting his hands on the boys shoulders. Since secluding himself, His grandfather hadn't had an opportunity to shave and was left with the beginnings of a beard over his chin. "I did it, I finally figured out the secret of Eggman's technology and I did it!" Chris blinked.

"Do you mean…" Chuck nodded enthusiastically. Quickly the two of them raced back to the Garage and up through the trap door to Chuck's laboratory, leaving a very confused Stuart covered in thorns, staring after them in amazement.

Chuck was more than pleased to stand aside after pulling Chris all the way up through the trap door, revealing what lay on the table behind him. Chris stood there, amazed. After weeks of research and hard work, he had finally succeeded in repairing Metal Sonic. In fact, the android now looked as good as new, better even. The large bracers on his forearms that he'd gained from absorbing Knuckles data had been reattached. Armoured plates had been added to his forehead, legs, chest plate and greaves. His quills, most of which had been smashed off, has been repaired as well. Three long sheets of metal curved out from his head, the one from his forehead heading down at the remaining two on each side going up. A sheet of armour on his forehead, curving over the original quill had been put in place to give him an extra spine. Two large rocket boosters had been grafted to the back of his legs, probably making him a great deal faster too. His head was tilted down and his visor completely blank, showing that he was just as lifeless as before.

"I finally did it." Chuck proclaimed with a smug smile. "I finally managed to repair him. It took hours of study and painstaking labour, but it's down." He represent laugh made its way out of his mouth and thrust a fist into the air. "I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it!" He began repeating over and over again, jumping up and down in joy.

Chris hesitated, his gaze fixed on the unforgiving metal face.

"But grandpa, you've probably heard this from Tails, but isn't it risky keeping him in battle ready condition like this?" Chris asked, finally finding his voice. Chuck laughed to himself, taking a small black remote control out of his pocket.

"I already thought of that lad, which is why I took the liberty of installing a shut down program into his electronic brain." He showed his grandson the remote, directing his attention to a single red button directly in its centre. "If he becomes unmanageable, I hit this switch and he goes offline. I hit it again, while he's offline and a small but powerful explosive charge I implanted inside his chest will detonate." Chris blinked and took a step back. "Oh don't worry, it will only explode if I press the remote twice and even then it isn't that big an explosion. It'd be enough to destroy his insides and his armour, little more. Although it'll probably be a good idea not to be too close if I have to use it."

* * *

The Mystic Ruins, a large piece of land just across the water from Station Square, it's curved shores creating the large bay which still had rusting pieces of the Egg Fleet jutting out of it, had remained unchanged despite the advancement in technology of the world around. The Mobians that lived there was simple minded, preferring the easy life they had enjoyed before the merge of the two worlds. Apart from the occasional tourist, the Mystic Ruins was relatively unvisited. Which was probably why Tails decided that somewhere deep in its lush green forests was a better place to set up his workshop than the cliff side residence he'd had to endure before.

Sonic whistled, pacing around the large chamber, impressed with how much effort Tails had put into creating this new home. It was far more spacious than his old one, with a large under ground bunker to house the X tornado, which he was currently redesigning, a large set of iron doors opening up into a clearing to allow the plane to fly off. A workshop filled with machinery which did goodness knows what and a steal elevator that lead up to a large log cabin amongst the forest with two bedrooms, kitchen, living room and a balcony that gave a great view of the forest.

"And you made all this yourself?" The hedgehog asked Tails as the young fox pushed himself out from underneath some large piece of machinery that seems to spread pipes like the roots of a plant up the wall toward the high ceiling. The entire chamber was made from solid concrete to protect it from any possibility of a cave in, lights and wires crossing the ceiling and edges of the walls. Landing strips had been painted on the floor, a white box drawn around the X tornado, which was still in the shop after the beating it took against the Egg Fleet.

"Most of it." The young fox replied; cleaning his oil smeared hands with a piece of cloth before replacing his gloves over his fingers. "I had a little help from Shadow installing the larger pieces of equipment." Sonic's interest peaked at that point and he looked back with a starteled expression on his face.

"Shadow?" He asked in surprise. "He was here?" Tails nodded as if there was nothing strange about it at all.

"He just showed up one day, he had a few meals, helped me out with the installation and then disappeared." Sonic blinked in surprise. "Believe me, I was surprised as you." Tails added, leading the blue hedgehog over to the metallic mesh shaft at the far end of the large chamber. Sonic was left a little stunned by this piece of information. He didn't think Shadow was the type for offering to help out, he was a loner, that much had been proved when he disappeared after they had separated from the Nazo merger. Shadow simply wasn't a social person.

The lift began to ascend, quickly disappearing into the vertical shaft, the only source of light coming from the occasional electronic lamps installed on the inside of the lift walls, each disappearing as quickly as it came. "So how's Amy?" Tails asked. A wide, almost goofy smile crossed Sonic's face. He laughed to himself, putting his arms behind his back.

"More energetic than usual, if that's possible." The blue hedgehog said with a smirk. "She's already taking in martial arts lessons from Tanaka and she's studying history at the University. If that wasn't enough, she become slightly obsessed with learning to run as fast as me." Tails laughed.

"I don't think anyone can run quite as fast as you."

"I hear that!" Sonic said with a wide smirk, high-fiving his friend as the lift reached the top of the shaft and the mesh door opened up into the living area. Tails had done a great job designing it, an almost exact replica of Chuck's garage, with the downstairs reserved for a kitchen area, a flight of stairs leading upward toward a trap door to the bedroom above.

"Not much on the Eggman front then?" Tails asked as he reached for the fridge. Sonic shook his head and collapsed on the couch in front of the large, wide screen TV.

"Not anything large at least. A few minor raids on those frontier bases, but apart from those he seems pretty happy on that mecha moon of his." He reached for the remote and flipped it on. "He's planning something big though."

"When isn't he?" Tails asked back, taking two soda cans out of the fridge and tossing on to the blue hedgehog, who caught it with ease. Sonic turned back to the TV and grimaced.

"600 channels and nothing good on." It was then, as he lifted the soda can to his lips, he managed to catch a glance at the clock on the wall. "Ah crap!" He exclaimed, nearly dropping the can. "Man I totally lost track of time!" He swallowed the contents of the can in one gulp, forcing it down his neck before throwing the can over his shoulder and into a waste paper basket. "Sorry Tails, like to stay longer but I promised Amy I'd pick her up from the university." He said in a rush, running on the spot. Tails gained a large smirk.

"When?"

"Five minutes ago!" He added, before racing out the door at the far end of the room, disappearing with a loud sonic boom and a faint after image of a blue blur.

* * *

Remaining hidden in the woods outside, Fang the Sniper, feared assassin, bounty hunter and mercenary watched from the hidden sanctuary of the wilderness as a blue blur vanished into the distance. He'd been watching his target for some time now and realized that this perhaps would not be as easy as he had original thought. Outright confrontation was not an option with this hedgehog, he was far too skilled a fighter for it. Even with all his boys, who were crouching in the bushes along with him, it might not be enough to take him down. A change in strategy was obviously required.

Fang was the head of a notorious gang called the Sharpshooters. Wanted nationwide for crimes ranging from parking violations, breaking and entering and on too many occasions, assault. They were a Mobian group, made up of some of the strongest and possibly most vile people from the old world. Fang had picked them all out himself, training them to become the best mercenaries either world had seen.

"That was a perfect opportunity boss!." A large mobian rhino began, his large grey fingers wrapped around his knife. A large red bandana wrapped around his neck, which apart from the odd belt, shirt and pair of pants was all they wore on their bodies. Knifes, guns and the odd grenade were attached to large straps around their chests. "We've been following this guy around for two months now, we should have rushed him and then claimed that reward." The weasel gave the rhino a contempt glance. Rushing in was never a good idea, it often proved a fatal move for less experienced mercenaries. But the Rhino did raise a good point.

Eggman was getting impatient. He was having to postpone whatever plan he had until Sonic had been dealt with, and was deducted a lot of money from the paid total each week Sonic remained alive. If they didn't finish him off soon he could loose all that money completely. He had to come up with a way to lure Sonic into trap, get him into a enclosed space making his speed worthless, and then overpower him with superior numbers. The problem was how to get Sonic into a confined space and make him stay there long enough to kill him? The answer to that was simple.... Bait.

"Change of plan boys." Fang said sharply, standing up, fanning himself with his hat before replacing it back on his head. His flaxen yellow eyes locked directly onto Tails, staring at him through the open window. "Instead of hunting the hedgehog, I say we make him come to us."

* * *

Flip Card 1: Fang the Sniper

Age: 19

Species: Weasel

Height: 3:1

Sex: Male

Profession: Bounty Hunter, Mercenary, Assassin, general all around bad guy.


	2. Episode 1, part 2

* * *

Flip Card 2: Tails (Miles) Prower

Age: 10

Species: fox

Height: 1:2

Sex: male

Profession: Young inventor, pilot and sidekick

* * *

Come high noon, downtown Station Square was suddenly in chaos. Without any warning at all, several of Eggman's drop ships flew overhead and at least two-dozen of the largest combat robots in his mechanical army came bellowing down, reeking havoc even before their large metallic feet touched the ground.

Standing as tall at most of the buildings around them, these colossal battle machines, with missile launching pads hidden inside their legs and arms sent a tidal wave of frightened people running for their lives. These robots were those larger walkers Eggman had updated from maintenance work to combat situations. They proved far more effective killing machines then the clumsy Egg-pawns before them.

G.U.N choppers, tanks and their own robotic machines were already on their way. Whatever force they could muster however would obviously arrive too late, the police, even with their newest robotic swat teams to help proved no match for these larger, far more advanced robot giants.

Sonic had been taking a detour through downtown when he saw the fireworks start. He groaned in exasperation.

"Amy's going to have my head for being late!" He thought to himself, before diverting his course at top speed and sprinting directly for the trouble zone. One of the large robots reared it's large triangular head up and stared in his direction, the fast moving target already in it's crosshairs. It's raised a large arm, preparing to fire a barrage of missile fire, before a large blunt object came flying seemingly out of nowhere, hitting the mechanical giant directly on the elbow, dismembering it's arm.

Sonic came screeching to a direct halt at the entrance to the street as the robot collapsed to the ground, a large metallic hammer imbedded in it's shattered skin.

Amy Rose simply walked up to it and wrenched her hammer free, balancing it on her shoulders. A wild, almost excited look on her face as the remaining androids reared up in front of her, redirecting their targeting sensors toward her instead. Amy had changed over the last few mouths since the whole Egg Fleet thing. It was something that Sonic couldn't help noticing again and again as he walked up beside her, the two of them standing side by side in defiance of the metal giants. Her hips and…other areas were wider and her legs were slightly longer, Sonic would nearly go as far to say her body was nearly like Rouge's now. Of course he would never say it out load, to Rouge or Amy. Her pink quills were longer, almost reaching past her shoulders, he same red dress still covering her body.

"So this was why you were late picking me up." She said with a side glance. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me." Sonic smirked.

"Me? No never." The two leading robots swung their arms forward, the two large machine gun adaptations built into their arms starting to swing into life. "Can we talk later, over Cheeseburgers?"

"Only if your buying." She replied as bullets began flying through the air.

* * *

As chaos ensued, neither of them noticed the small surveillance robot hovering a short distance above the roof tops, a large disc like eye following their movements throughout the battle. The notorious, Doctor Eggman watched the feed on the monitor, his fatty eyebrows overhanging the spectacles that blotted out his eyes. He leaned back in his metal chair, which had been especially designed to cope with his round bulk and built into a rail system that allowed him complete access to his laboratory without ever having to set foot on the floor.

The fact that Sonic had turned up to stop his little raid on Station Square was no surprise. Eggman would have been more surprised if he hadn't. Sonic was always there, getting in the way, and in there lay the challenge, the only thing that would stand in the way for his plans for imperial expansion. Sonic had to be removed first.

It had been two months already and Eggman was beginning to loose patience with his fired mercenary. He could not put the invasion off much longer. If he were to succeed militaristically, he had to strike before the entire world's military was updated with that technology they stole from him. Sonic had to be dead before that time.

He had given Fang only more two weeks to finish the job. Then, Sonic or not, he would have to make his move. If Sonic was dead before that date, not only would Fang not receive the richly promised reward but he would be put on the Eggman Empire's most wanted list and shot on sight should he rear his head again.

The raid on the city had served one purpose and one purpose only. The people were starting to forget that he was here and that it was only a matter of time before he took over and made the entire world a metallic paradise. Already other large monitors around the observation chamber were recording news broadcasts covering the attack. Already talk was rampant of a large scale assault on the world's capitals. A large grin crossed the mad scientists face. Well, not yet maybe. But the time drew near.

* * *

Angel Island now floated just above the clouds, remaining for the most part, out of sight. It seemed the Master Emerald thought it safer this way, although Knuckles admitted he'd miss the unending rolling beauty of the ocean from the edge of the island. Still, endless white and silver cloud turned out to be a good substitute and far be it from him to argue with the Emeralds' divine judgement. He was just a guardian after all.

The sky always remained clear as there were few clouds that drifted higher than the islands present orbit. To maintain the various and many forms of plant life on the island, it would occasionally dip to acquire some rain before ascending again. The large mountainous underbelly of the island slicing into the cloud, the small landmass gently and slowly sailed across this puffy sea with no destination in mind.

As the Red Echidna sat there, day after day, leaving only to train himself and gather food, he had time to do a lot of thinking. Knuckles thought about a lot things, sitting there staring into nothingness. He thought about life, death, the eternal struggle between good and evil, that sort of thing. But what he found began to dominate his thoughts was his own past.

Knuckles stretched his arms out until he heard a loud snap and turned to give the large, diagonally shaped enormous green jewel on the stone pedestal behind him a long stare. It's omnipresent, soft glow radiating into the ground, filling the island with it's magically energy. How had he come here, exactly why was **_HE_** guarding this emerald, bound to guardianship probably for the rest of his life? The not knowing was the kind of thing that would drive Sonic insane, but not Knuckles. He'd not know the answer for so long it got to the point where it didn't matter and all that remained was the steadfast responsibilities of his guardianship. Yet still it would be nice to know exactly where he came from and now he got here.

He knew Chaos destroyed his people eons ago, but the fact that he was alive in this day and age proved that their race had carried on until his birth. The earliest memory Knuckles had went back to his late childhood, and that said it was not a pleasant memory. Running through the jungle rain, the vines lashing at his legs, tears stinging his eyes. He couldn't remember exactly what he had been running from, but the distinct impression of a pair of glowing red eyes closely following him stuck in his memory. All he remembered was that it terrified him and he had to get away from it. Suddenly, he found himself at the foot of the stone stairs leading up the shrine. The inviting green light at the top drew him in and he found himself lost in it's warm radiance. It protested him, made him feel safe and it was sometime around then he realized that he had been chosen as it's guardian. And so he had been ever since, training himself in seclusion to contour act any threat that came his way.

Ten years later, that threat arrived. Knuckles sighed and leaned back against a crumbling stone pillar, remembering that day all too well, when Eggman arrived on the island. His greatest doomsday weapon, the Death Egg came falling from it's orbit thanks to one of Sonic's earliest adventures, landing with an enormous crash on a spit of land somewhere in a southern sea, narrowly missing Angel Island. Had Knuckles known exactly what trouble it would have caused, he would have ignored the crashed ship and let the island float on. But he did not do that, instead he abandoned the Master Emerald and went to help. That single decision changed Knuckles' life. Shortly after that he meet up with Sonic and his friends, and although mislead by Eggman's lies they eventually gained an understanding. Ever since then whenever Sonic faced a powerful enemy Knuckles always seemed to be there fighting by his side.

"Am I wrong is thinking that this somehow orchestrated?" He asked suddenly out load, one eye fixed on the Master Emerald, which not surprisingly did not reply. Instead, it maintained it's soft glow. The gently leaves of the lush green trees encircling the ruins beginning to silently sway in the cold wind, one branch occasionally eclipsing beam of light from the sun above. A short grin crossed the Echidna's face before he lay back down. "Fine conversationalist you are." He added, closing his eyes and loosing his mind in his thoughts again.

"I don't know about that big jewel." Said a familiar voice suddenly. Knuckle's eye shot open and he was instantly in a sitting position. Standing at the bottom of the shrine steps with her arms folded behind her back and wings outstretched was the one person Knuckles would rather not have on the island. "But I can certainly lend a friendly ear." She added, gently waving her large left ear for emphasise. Knuckles barred his teeth and somersaulted to his feet.

"You again?!" Rouge giggled at him, her emerald eyes fixing him with a seductive gaze. "What is with you?! I thought I told you to get off my island!" Rouge, one of the best jewel thieves in existence gave him a coy smile. About a year ago she'd been caught by the Government in possession of a stolen priceless Ruby and so in order to claim immunity from prosecution she agreed to become one of their agents. Which turned out to be quite the successful career move as all that spy stuff was just what she was suited to even if she was easily distracted by shiny things.

"Technically." She said, raising a finger and closing he eye with an annoying superior look on her face. "You told me to get out of your face, not get off your island." Knuckles clenched both fists by his side, fuming in rage, before he regained some composure, turned around and sat down with his back to her.

"Go away." He said plainly, one eye twitching. The Master Emerald almost seemed to alter it's glow in amusement at it's Guardian's distress.

"Make me." She replied, gently landing beside him, her wings folding behind her back. Knuckles looked back for a moment, considering the offer, before thinking better of it and resuming his iron glad glare on the Master Emerald. "Why are you so opposed to company anyway?" She asked, sitting down and leaning on his shoulder, trying to get him to cast his eyes in her direction. Knuckles refused to budge, but the edge of his mouth began to twitch slightly. "I must get lonely, sitting here all day and all night with no one to talk to."

"I've gotten by fine until now." Finally he turned to give her a warning glare. "Besides, you aren't here to keep me company." Rouge pretended to look insulted.

"Don't you trust me?"

"No I do not." Rouge slumped down, leaning against the Echidna, nearly tilting him over. Knuckles crossed his arms and tried to find his happy place.

"Oh, I'm hurt Knucklehead. I come all the way up here to engage in some friendly conversation, and I'm bombarded with suspicion." Knuckles edged a little closer to the master Emerald. "But to be perfectly honest…" She added, suddenly sounding very devious. "I'm here to make you an offer."

"I knew it." The Echidna groaned, collapsed to his hands in exasperation. She latched onto him, her arms wrapping at his neck, gently nuzzling the side of his cheek. "First you try and hook me up with the military, then you build that annoying tracking device on the edge of the island. Hardly know it's there my…"

"How'd you like to see the world?" Rouge butted in and Knuckles shook his head, looking very tired all of a sudden.

"I have my guardianship to tend to. I'm not going anywhere."

"You certainly have a one track mind don't you? It's guardianship this and guardianship that with you. I bet you won't set foot off this island unless you had little other choice." Knuckles didn't reply. "I'm offering you a place on the new team the Government is putting together to help battle Doctor Eggman more efficiently. In return, we give you outfitted security for this run down old wreck you call a shrine." The Echidna sighed angrily through his teeth.

"I'm sure if I were Sonic, I'd be writing my name on the dotted line already. but the answer from me is still no." Rouge didn't hide the fact that it wasn't the answer she'd hoped for. She knew that there was little point in attempted to convince him otherwise. So instead of trying to add anything, she simply laid down next to him, staring up at the sky.

"Well if that's your decision."

"Yes it is, so why are you still hanging around?" She suddenly bore a wide smile.

"I thought I'd keep you company." Knuckles face faulted and fell backwards in both astonishment and frustration.

* * *

"Chao!" The gently cries of Chao gently filled the streets. Since their discovery by the modern world, more and more Chao had been seen in and around the city areas. They were quickly becoming common pets, so common in fact that centres had been built with artificial replicas of their natural colonies. They became known as Chao' Gardens and ever now and then, the humorous event of a Chao racing would be held. It was actually quite pathetic, watching the sky blue creature running along on their incredible short legs and large pad like feet, trying to outdistance each other. Some falling over, the balls floating above their heads becoming confused spirals.

"So, what exactly is this?" Sonic asked, giving the strange creature Amy had in her arms a look over. It looked like a Chao, but it had pure white skin and black eyes. A large pair of red and golden feathered wings sprouting out it's back, gently curved around it's small, red tipped forearms. A strange, almost leaf like projection with red tips gently curving out from the top of it's head like hair. It's feet where bird like talons, strangely downsized to looked almost cute and instead of a ball floating above it's head there was a semi orange halo.

"This is Turel." Amy replied with a smile and the strange creature stuck it's fingerless hand in the air. "My adopted Chao." She added proudly.

"Chaoooo!" It replied, gently flapping it's large wings enthusiastically. The article Chao garden they were sitting on the edge of was part of the multimillion dollar corporation, the Foundation Organisation's Chao adaptation program. They where many of them all over Station Square now, large garden made specifically to tend and house young Chao. Since Chao were a newly discovered species, researchers were constantly there, taking notes of the physical and mental traits of the cute little creatures. This particular garden was built into the pent house on the top of a hotel on the shore line. The garden itself was a large, square room with a fountain and pool with clear water at the end. Some newly hatched Chao were already there, playing in the shallow clear water. A group of people in white technican coats were already there, taking notes, taking excitedly to one another. At the far end of the room was the synthetic garden itself, with large patches of grass and pal trees sprouting up out of the sectioned corners. Large, white eggs with blue and yellow spots were dotted around the trees. Several had electrodes attached to their shells, the wires connected to some type of complex looking equipment. The ceiling itself was an arched glass construct, the orange sky of the sunset seen through the windows. The rest of the floor was made from marble, young and older Chao already there in large gathered crowds. Their (_owners)_ stood around the outside of these large groups, taking to some of the researches about their latest finds. Since Chao had been already been discovered on Mobius, the researchers encouraged any mobian with knowledge of Chao to come forward to help them with their work. In fact, many of the Chaos' owners here were Mobians themselves.

Sonic gave the ordinary, blue and yellow Chao a glance, the looked back at the angel like thing in the pink hedgehog's arms.

"Doesn't look like any Chao I've seen before." He stated, retching himself behind his ear. One of the researchers, a human in a white coat and black trousers looked back over his shoulder.

"That is an adult Chao." He said with a smile. Sonic looked up, his expression warranting an explanation. "All Chao are born looking the same, from the moment they hatch." he gestured over toward the egg he was studying. "After their infant stage is over, they enter a chrysalis like state and when they emerge they…" he hesitated, Sonic's expression hadn't changed at all. "Think caterpillar and butterfly." Realization finally came over the hedgehog's face.

"Oh." He said simply.

"You mean to tell me you didn't know?" Amy asked, looking slightly confused. Sonic gained a goofy, smile, folding his arms behind his head.

"Well, I never really slowed done long enough to find out."

"Hey Sonic!" The blue hedgehog blinked and looked over toward the large set of doors as they opened. A human boy with brown hair and a young mobian young entered, carefully picking their way around large groups of chao.

"Hey Tails, Chris." Amy said, putting her evolved Chao down and it began to fly off enthusiastically yelling, "chao" over and over again. "How'd you find us?" Tails gained a superior smirk as Chris stared after the chao.

"You left us a pretty obvious trail." He said smugly, gesturing to the window and the pillars of smoke still rising from the shattered pieces of the robot's, G.U.N clean up crews already salvaging whatever they could from the remains.

* * *

"So what's new in your part of the world Chris?" Sonic asked as the four of them sat down to ice creams at the pool side near the beech, the late summer sun blazing down on the swimmers inside splashing around and those in deck chairs. The shadow from the hotel barley covering anything. The arrangement of palm trees alone along the beech adding a welcome and warm atmosphere.

"Well my Grandpa's finally out of his garage, and that's a miracle in itself." The boy replied, pausing for a moment before taking a bite of his ice cream. Tails looked up from his own desert, his tails twitching.

"He Didn't actually do it did he?…." He lowered his voice. "Finish the repairs to…you know." Chris widened his eyes, sighed in exasperation let his arm support his head.

"You know Grandpa, once he gets started on something that's it, he won't stopped until he finishes." He paused. "That's a yes." Tails moaned and flopped his head down on the table several times. Sonic grinned and smacked a fist into his palm.

"Great. I can hardly wait." Everyone looked his way in confusion.

"Hardly wait for what?" Amy asked. Sonic didn't answer, he just grinned, smug with the knowledge that the return of Metal Sonic would not be what his friends thought it would be. He could tell them that, but he doubted very much if they would believe him and besides, he wanted it to be a surprise.

"Anyway, what's been going with Eggman?" Chris asked as Sonic shovelled a large quantity of ice cream into his mouth.

"Despite that raid on the city, surprisingly little." Amy answered for him, she glanced up towards the sky and the nearly transparent outline of the moon that would grow stronger as the day began to fade. "He's up there, planning something. The knowledge ruins a perfectly good midnight walk, I simply can't look at that moon lately..." Tails gave Sonic a sly look.

"A midnight walk?" Sonic paused from his ice cream long enough to give his friend a warning glare.

From the ceiling on the hotel, Fang the Sniper watched through a pair of binoculars. This was too perfect, everything was proceeding according to plan, now all they need to do was snatch the bait and at the same time, rattle the hedgehog's cage a bit, that should make him nice and angry. He reached for a two way radio at his side.

"Ok boys." He said, clicking the button down. "It's show time."

* * *

"Hey what's going on?" Amy asked, glancing back over her shoulder to the pair of glass doors that lead into the hotel lobby. Someone at the front desk was making a lot of noise, and things were getting thrown about. Before any of them could get up to investigate, there was a sudden shriek and without warning, several heavily armed mobians burst in through the glass doors leading out from the hotel, firing shots into the air. People ran screaming, some hide under tables and others hit the floor with their hands behind their heads. One was a rhino with a chipped horn on the end of end of his nose, several large fire arms thrown into his large hands, his clumsy fingers trying to keep a finger of each trigger. Another was a turtle, he was one firing rounds into the air and the final one, a Roaster was knocking over deck chairs and tables.

"Every on the floor, NOW!" One screamed, firing shots into the air.

"Oh not again." Sonic groaned, pulling himself to his feet. This was the third hostage situation he'd dealt with this month and they were hardly challenging. They were actually annoying. Where was Doctor Eggman and his robot legions when boredom set in? "Can you guys…" he was about to finish his sentence, but he already could see the rest of them were hiding under the table. "Yeah… like that." He added, before racing of, landing a punch before so much as a second had passed.

As Sonic was busy beating the living daylights out of these would be hi-jackers, everyone's attention was fixed on him. No one really noticed a swift dark shape jump down from the roof of a hotel floor on the balcony of one of the windows.

"Ah, the old age art of distraction, thanks for the tip Espio." It said to itself, aiming a large bazooka type weapon toward the ground floor and squeezing the trigger. A large grapping hook flying from the barrel, opening up like some giant metallic skeletal hand as it flew.

"Sonic!" Tails screamed as it seized him, pinning his arms to his sides, tearing him out from under the table. As the last one fell to the ground with a solid punch, Sonic looked back to see Tails had disappeared. The others were staring with wide expressions of confusion up toward balconies, following their gaze the blue hedgehog finally saw what had happened.

Tails was there, squirming in a grip of another mobian. He had a similar physique to Sonic, but was several inches taller. His fur was purple with a pink tint here and there, his muzzle, chest and the inside of his large pointed ears were snow white. A large, protruding fang came from his lips. A large brown belt with a silver buckle ran around his waist and there was a pair of knee high white and brown boots on his feet. There was also a cowboy style canvas hat on his heat, pressing his ears down to a near vertical line. His tail had a strange, ninety degree kink in it, making it level in angle with his back. What stopped Sonic racing to his friends rescue was the fact that this weasel had a gun barrel pressed against the foxes head and his finger was already on the trigger.

"Nice job boys." The weasel said proudly as the three mobians pulled themselves up rather unsteadily, dropping their weapons on the floor. "A brilliant distraction."

"Not a problem boss." The rhino had just enough time to yell back for disappearing out through the hotel lobby following the others.

"Let him go!" Amy yelled, her hammer already his hand as she tore herself out from under the table.

"Back off missy!" The weasel snarled, pressing the gun harder against Tails' head. That stopped her in her tracks. The weasel gained a large smug grin and turned back to Sonic.

"Now your probably wondering what this is all about, or perhaps you just want this little…" he paused to give Tails a look over. "…Freak back." Sonic barred his teeth and clenched his fists. "You can have him back by all means, just come the old warehouse out by pier four downtown, Friday night, alone!" The weasel stepped back toward the edge of the pool. Without warning a large, but fast shape descended from the roof of the hotel, coming to a sudden stop a few inches behind them. It was an air bike, a vehicle made using technology stolen from the downed Egg fleet. It resembled a water sled, with a pair of hover thrusters built into the back. This one was painted purple had the words…(**_Marvellous Queen) _**engraved on the left hand side. The weasel took a final step back, stepping onto the vehicle. It swayed slightly under the weight as Tails abductor pushed the fox into the back seat as he took the front. "The name's Fang the Sniper blue boy, remember it." The weasel called back with a grin, take hold of the controls as it began to quickly rise into the air again. "Because that's the name of the one who's going to do you in." With that, and a roar from the engine of the sled, he disappeared, becoming a dot on the horizon. Racing across the water, where Sonic knew he could not follow, not even with his speed.

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

Fang? Who is he and where did he come from? Maybe Chaotix has the answers. Will Sonic be able to save Tails? Find out next time on Sonic X, A Nack for trouble. Don't miss it!


	3. Episode 2, part 1

(Authors note: I realize that the connection between Fang and Chaotix is based off the Fleetway plot line, but think of this as sort of an adaptation and continuation of that story.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO! GO ! GO! GO! LET'S GO!

Episode 2: A Nack for Trouble

"Look at the freak!"

"Two tails, man god sure messed up with the D.NA here."

"Maybe we should simply shoot the thing before it pollutes the gene pool." Tails could hear their snide remarks as they kicked him about and all he could do was yell out in pain. He was covered in bruises and already he was sure he had several broken ribs. He couldn't see the world around him, he'd scrunched his face up, forcing his eyes closed, he didn't want to see their sneering faces or the fists and kicks coming at him. Finally, one of them kicked him aside toward their leader, who towered over the beaten fox with his hands on his hips. He lifted a boot and pressed it against Tails' head, keeping his face to the floor.

"Tell me." He said, kneeling down, increasing the weight he was applying, pressing the foxes face into the ground. "Was it your mother or your father who had the defective chromosome?" The others burst out laughing as Fang the Sniper reached down and picked the fox up by his fur and tossed him back to his boys who snatched him from the air roughly. "Alright Gentlemen, that's enough fun for now. We still have a bounty to earn and I doubt Mr. Blue is going to wait until Friday to head us off. Toss the genetic reject into the box and let's get this show on the road." All Tails saw of the world in that spilt second, through blackened eyes was the inside of a warehouse, the sound of the sea coming in through the large door at the far end. Then all was darkness and they dumped him into the wooden crate and pushed the lid on top.

* * *

The desert night was cold than expected, but Shadow could hardly feel the tingle on his skin. He was far too durable to feel the discomfort of the cold, not that he really minded the almost invincible sensation anyway. Besides, he was far too distracted to notice it. "Well this is certainly interesting." Shadow muttered to himself as he looked back over his shoulder, racing along the highway outside the city, travelling through the desert with several armed G.U.N vehicles on his trail. Transport helicopters with a strange, dragon like symbol on their sides racing after him. These were not the militaries standard forces, they knew full well that nothing short of their best would be enough to take him down.

Not that the black hedgehog could think of what he'd done to annoy G.U.N, as far as he was aware, he wasn't being held responsible for that ARK thing. In fact, most of the people had forgotten about that in the wake of Metal Overlord's defeat. It wasn't exactly public redemption, but it was close enough. Probably some vigilantes with stolen weaponry. A smirk crossed the ultimate life-forms race as he skated forward in the soft moonlight, his underside highlighted by the soft pulsating white light from his skates. This could prove fun.

"Target Accelerating sir." The pilot in one of the choppers shot back over his shoulder as the black hedgehog on the road below shot forward with a burst of speed, pulling away from their pursuit with ease. "If he goes any faster, we might not be able to keep up with him."

"You've gotten us far enough. We can take it from here." The bizarre segmented voice replied, a dark shape standing behind him.

Shadow looked back over his shoulder again to see his pursuers disappear as he soured away. His eyes narrowed in disappointment.

"What? Over already?" He shock his head and turned his attention back to the road. A sudden blurred object darted in front of him, blocking his path. Forcing his right foot to the side, he came to a screeching halt, desert sand sent flying from the edge of his shoe.

Whatever was blocking the road looked human, but it's face and most of it's body was hidden behind a thick brown cloak with no descriptive or noteworthy markings. It just stood there, perfectly still like a statue. "Out of my way unless you want to get hurt." Shadow stated, standing up straight narrowing his eyes. The hood figure remained perfectly still, so still in fact it looked like he wasn't even breathing, The moonlight hardly seemed to touch him at all, even though he was standing out the open in the light's path. He wasn't even casting a shadow.

"No. You are going nowhere." A choir of voices announced as without warning at least five other hooded figures, each one identical to the first in everyway. It was like there was more than one of him. "Shadow, end result of the Ultimate life form research project."

"How do you know me?" He asked, trying to keep them all in his line of sight. They didn't answer, remaining quiet, the howl of some distant coyote ringing in the night. "Oh forget this, I said out of my way!" He began marching toward the other cloaked figure that barred his way before, only to find some invisible force smash into him, knocking the black hedgehog off his feet and onto the cold ground.

"You are our property." They all said at once. "You will come with us." Shadow snapped his head up, now very angry.

"I am nobodies **_property_**!" He snapped back, already in a fighting stance as he rose to his feet again. These cloaked strangers encircled him, but stayed outside of a four foot radius.

"Be silent." They all said together in one unified voice. "We funded the ultimate Lifeform research project, we we're it's financial backers, we own you." Fuming, Shadow threw an arm forward and fired a Chaos spear attack at one of them and to his astonishment, the attack passed right through him, imploding on the ground a short distance away. Like he hadn't been there at all. Shadow stared in confusion, before gritting his teeth and firing another blast toward another of their number. The same thing happened again. It was like they were ghosts.

"What the hell are you?" He asked, eyes wide. These cloaked phantoms drew in closer with such swift and flawless movement it was like they weren't even walking, more like gliding over the ground.

"We are your owners, you will come with us and do as you are told." Shadow closed his eyes, focusing on that one little point inside his very being and his entire body vanished in a green haze and then reappeared of a lime green mist a safe distance away. What were these things? He asked himself, if he launched an attack it simply passed right through them. They could be only three explanations, one he was loosing his mind, two he was fighting ghosts or three, these guys could change their molecular density allowing solid objects or active energy to pass right through them.

"I don't who you are, what you are or where you're from but you can forget it. I'm not going anywhere!" He replied with a snarl. These phantoms drifted around together in a tight circle, whispering sharply to one another.

"It resists."

"As expected."

"Initiate subjugation plan alpha." Without warning they swept forward like shadows disappearing across a field during sunset. It was like fighting the very darkness itself, Shadow's kicks, punches and energy attack just didn't have any effect, yet they were able to hurt him. Their plan was obviously clear, these constant attack were meant to simply tire him out. Apparently, they did not want him damaged. What annoyed Shadow was that he could tell these…things weren't very strong physically speaking, their blows hardly left any damage. What they relied on was their immunity to his attacks, using that to wear him down.

Eventually, he managed to gain control of this brawl and was narrowly avoiding the nearly invisible swipes using his in-human agility. There was timing involving in all this, these things could turn themselves solid and **_punch-able _**but only when they went for an attack. With this in mind, Shadow waited for an opening. They were rare, and when they came they passed too quickly for him to use them to his advantage, but still he waited. He kept his eyes on one of them, waiting patiently for it's time to swing. As it came forward with several others for an attack, Shadow spun around in mid air and fired a chaos Spear directly into the chest it's chest as it raised a arm to strike him. Proving his theory correct,, his attack struck him in full force and the attacker was throw by the sheer magnitude over the ground, landing with a loud thud against the desert sand. The others, seeing this display, quickly hovered backwards as their injured companion pulled himself up with a great deal of effort. His cloak and clothes underneath had been burned away on his chest, revealed a tattoo on his skin. A Chinese dragon with it's entire length wrapped around the chest, it's open mouth towered the neck.

"Unexpected skill level." One of them said.

"Even better than what we hoped for, a perfect vessel." Another replied, barley gesturing to the other one.

"Not now. It is now apparent that we need additional resources for risk free capture."

Shadow took a step forward, narrowing his eyes, fists clenched at his sides.

"Alright, enough." He said sharply, walking toward them, his fingers snapping open, the beginnings of a chaos spear beginning to form between them. "Now I want answers, who are you people and what do you want with me?" They ignored him as the downed phantom shakily began to hover with them, that dragon tattoo still striking out as an important detail.

"Abort Mission." He snapped, almost angrily, a change from it's emotionless droning before.

"Agreed." They others said together and like darkness again they simply vanished, one minute there and the next gone. Shadow stood there staring in confusion at the one who remains, the one who he'd injured. He couldn't see the face behind that cloak, but he could tell the thing was sneering at him.

"Enjoy the reprieve Hedgehog, I assure you it was be brief." With that, like those before him he vanished and Shadow was left alone with questions that were so bizarre he didn't want to hear the answers.

* * *

Abandoning their house after the pier gave way and it fell into the river, Chaotix set up shop inside a small, two one-roomed apartment in the downtown district, which was far better accommodation considering their financial situation. With the Chaotix logo painted on the glass of the door and advertising posters placed in police stations throughout the state, business was expected to boom.

"I'm bored." Charmee said out load, lying face down on Vector's desk, his wings slowing down to the swing of the metronome that stood next to a cup with pencils sticking out of it. There hadn't been a single case for over a month. As usual, Vector was on cloud nine, listening to the latest tunes through his headphones, lying back in his chair, nodding his head to the beat. His tail tapping the floor. Their office was small, consisted of a single wooden desk and a ceiling fan, a drawn blind blocked out a window of the right hand side of the room. The wall on the far side with bulletin boards placed on it, wanted posters taken from the police station they'd visited stapled up there. Apart from that and a side room consisting of two beds and a hammock, this was their home. It was, for the moment, all they could afford.

"Well you can help me hand out more ads." Espio dryly announced, coming out of the spare bed room, carrying a pile of papers. Vector had wanted to make up a new policy slogan for them but Espio had forbidden him from so much as saying the **_(P) _**word in casual conversation. Charmee looked his way with a bored expression.

"I'll never be that bored." He said and went back to timing his wing beats with the metronome. Espio growled at him.

Without warning there was a sudden knock a the door, it was a relatively quiet knock but somehow Vector managed and he shot an eye open. A dark silhouette was standing just outside, which registered to them simply as a potential customer. Vector quickly turned off his music and sat upright, nearly knocking a ink pot off the desk, an un-natural alertness on his face.

"Don't just sit there, we have money to earn here!" He snapped at Espio suddenly seeing that neither of his partners were moving, grabbed a pen and paper and pretended to look like he was writing something important as Charmee went to open the door. Espio looked down at the pile of paper in his arms, turned, tossed it back through the doorway into the side room and shut the door. Vector looked up favourable, expecting to see some wealthy couple in need of service, instead he got Chris and Amy standing there with a surprised look on their faces to see them so alert. He groaned and slapped the end of his snout. "Oh it's just you. Stand down boys, false alarm."

"Nice to see you to." Chris said dryly as the Chaotix members slumped down, looking as bored as they had a few minutes ago. Amy however wasn't in the mood for small talk.

"We need information guys and we can pay you for your services." Vector shot right back up from his slouch in his famous **_(Dollars signs in the eyes) _**pose.

"Well that's better! What's the problem?" It took some time for Chris and Amy to jointly relay to them the story, everything that had happened during Tails' kidnapping and how Sonic was already on his way to meet with his abductor as he requested. Vector just sat there listening with Espio and Charmee at his side. But finally when they got around to describing the kidnapper, the descriptions were obviously painfully familiar to the Chaotix. First shock crossed their faces, then confusion and finally near unrivalled anger. Whatever was on their minds now, money was far from it.

"Fang!" Espio snarled through clenched teeth, visibly shaking in rage. Chris hesitated, not sure answer.

"Yeah, that's what he called himself anyway." He did anyway. Amy scanned Chaotix briefly, noting down the reactions.

"I take it, you know this guy." None of them said anything, they just stayed there, staring angrily into air. "Please, we need to know as much about this guy as we can." Vector looked down at her, in his eyes burned pain, rage and loss.

"Yeah, we know him." He said with a sneer and then thumped the table in front of him angrily, knocking his cup off the edge, the coffee staining the carpet. "It's because of that backstabbing bastard that Mighty is dead." Amy and Chris blinked and gave each other a glance as Vector calmed himself down and sat back down, sighing out load. "We didn't know as Fang, his real name is Nack the Weasel. Back in the day Chaotix had five members, Espio, Myself, Charmee and two others. One was a super strong armadillo by the name of Mighty and the other was a weapons expert called Nack. We'd been through thick and thin together, we trusted each other with our lives. I suppose Nack didn't share all that, looking back now I believe he was more interested in reaping the profits of a job rather than doing a decent job of it.

We'd been on the trail of a nefarious crime lord by the name of Davious for some time when it happened."

* * *

A younger Vector glanced out from behind the old warehouse on the docks, the faint moonlight from above filtering down onto the water below. Everything was quiet, not a soul to be seen anywhere. It hadn't been long after the five thousand reward was put on the head of one of the most notorious' crime boss' in the Metropalis city area that Chaotix were on his trail. A tip off had lead them to this abandoned warehouse in the most derelict part of the city, and so far, so good.

"Ok." The Crocodile said quietly, gesturing to his four team mates. Espio the Chameleon, who back then was still a ninja in training, with a white band tied around his arm to show it. Charmee hovered as usual over Vector's shoulder, acting as their reconnaissance man. Another member was an armadillo, with black fur and segmented plates of red armour along his back, two long yellow ears sticking out the sides of his head. He was by fat the strongest member of Chaotix, with strength rivalling that of any Mobian's. Their final member was a purple weasel, an explosives and weapons expert. He'd helped them disarm countless bombs in the past and was a trusted member of their crew. He was Nack the Weasel, a renegade sort brought up in the most run down area of Metropolis city. "It looks quiet out there." Vector added, turning back to them. Davious had been on the run for some time now and the reward on his head was enormous, attracting bounty hunters from across the region. With such determined completion, Vector was desperate to catch Davious alive before someone else did.

"It's quiet." Mighty commented, his voice the deepest of the group despite being the youngest excusing Chamee. "Too quiet." he added, looking past Vector toward the large doors at the front of the warehouse.

"You've been dying to say that since we set out haven't you?" Espio asked with a grin, slapping him on the back.

"Why don't I go first to check it out." Nack asked, stepping out of the shadows, crushing some loose head fur out of his eyes. "I know we normally use Charmee for recon and stuff, but truth be told..." He added, giving the bee a smug grin. "The kid can't handle himself if things get nasty, and it's likely to in there." Charmee blew air out of his nose angrily, his arms straight by his sides.

"I can too!" He said sulking.

"Sorry, but he's right." Espio put in, before giving Nack a grin. "Ok, but don't let anyone see you. Call us if it's all clear." The weasel gave him a thumbs up, before slowly edging his way across the way toward the warehouse doors which were ajar. Vector watched the weasel hesitate at the doors only for a moment, before slipping inside. For a few moments they waited in silence, half expecting to hear screams and shot being fired, instead the silenced endured. Then, Nack stuck his head out, smiling at them.

"Ok, all clear." He called, before disappearing again. Trusting their team mate's judgement, they quickly followed.

"I hope Nack knows what he's doing in there." Mighty commented, reaching for the doors and pushing them open, the metal giving off a reluctant groan and then a loud clank as it clicked into place, leaving the entrance wide open. That's when it happened, blaring lights flipped on and suddenly Chaotix found themselves up in front of a line of Mobians each armed with Rifle. Before they could retreat, some more of these people quickly cut off their escape route from outside, leaving them trapped in a hopeless situation.

"Nack, how could you miss these goons?!" Vector blared, but noticed the Weasel was standing some distance away with his back to them, being ignored by their aggressors. Nack began to laugh softly.

"Oh no Vector, I didn't miss them. I knew they were there alright." He turned to give his team mates a glare, his eyes were filled with a sadistic humour they had never seen in him before, like he had changed his personality completely. "It's just you they're after, not me." Chaotix simply stared at him in confusion. Realization suddenly hit Mighty's face and anger flooded into his features, his fists clenched and eyes narrowed, every part of him burning with hatred.

"Nack, you double crossing…"

"Don't be so hard on your comrade." Announced a voice from the darkness and out of the shadows from behind the spotlights that blared on Chaotix strode a tall mobian Lion, his mane cut sort and he was dressed in a fine sharkskin suit. This was Davious, the mobian they'd been chasing. "His price was extremely high."

"Hey, I have expensive tastes." Nack said lightly with a sadistic smile. "Sorry, really I am. But you know, you don't say no to that much cash."

* * *

"But that wasn't the worst of it." Vector continued, sighing out load. He paused, almost reluctantly to continue. "Mighty tried to provide us with a distraction to escape and….." There was a solemn silence, the crocodiles mouth hung open in mid sentence. In his minds ear he could still see the armadillos body sway in mid air as the noise from the shot still hung in the air and then topple backwards, striking the floor with a sickening loud thud, the screams of Espio and Charmee ringing in his ears. Nack smirking at them, his own fingers wrapped around the trigger

"I'm sorry." Amy began, looking down at her shoes, trying not to meet his sorrowful gaze.

"Davious eventually got caught by the cops, but Nack escaped. After that, he changed his name to Fang the Sniper." Vector continued, regaining some composure. "Became a profession assassin, he's been at the top of our hit list for years." He pointed up toward a wanted poster on the boards behind him. The Weasels face stared back down at them with a sneer. "Kidnapping sounds like something he'd do, but if it's Sonic you say he wanted to go somewhere it seems to suggest his real target is your blue friend." Chris nodded with a loud groan.

"That's what we tried to tell him, but…he's Sonic. He wouldn't listen."

"He never listens." Amy added dryly. Vector sighed out load, trying to force all the nasty memories away from him. "He's already heading off to that meeting place to see if he can catch Tails' kidnappers off guard."

"Espio, would you…" Vector blinked, suddenly noting that the chameleon had vanished completely. "Espio?"

A katana in one hand and a Shuriken in the other, Espio leapt from roof top to roof top. Rage, unparalleled, burning within him. He'd been waiting years for this chance, finally he knew where that backstabbing weasel was going to be. Despite their manner, Chaotix did have a code of conduct. They never killed their targets, never. Well, getting thrown out of the gang was going to be worth this. He briefly looked down at the thin, long blade in his hand. He didn't care what morals went out the window with this act, before this day was done, this same sword would have Nack's blood smeared on it.

"I'm coming for you…" He growled through gritted teeth.

* * *

Flip Card1:

Name: Espio

Species: Chameleon

Age: 16

Sex: male

Job description: Professional Ninja, second member of the bounty hunting, detective organisation; Chaotix


	4. Episode 2, part 2

* * *

Flip Card 2:

* * *

Name Shadow

Species Hedgehog (Ultimate life form)

Age 54 (Ageless immortal)

Job description: The end result of Research project Shadow, a wandering hedgehog trying to find his way in the world.

* * *

He was walking directly into a trap, that much was obvious. But with Tails' life on the line, Sonic just didn't care. The second he charged into the warehouse on the dock well before the Friday night he was meet by at least a dozen of Fang's Sharpshooters, they were all armed to the teeth with nearly every kind of hand held weapon imaginable but fat lot of good it did them. Sonic was simply too fast for bullets so swipes with a knife to hit him. Catching them completely by surprise, soon nearly everyone of them was lying down on the floor, knocked unconscious or rendered incapable of getting back up. Sonic however was quick to notice that Tails' kidnapper wasn't amongst them. He stood up, the angry, determined glare on his face defiantly refusing to leave.

"Ok, I'm here!" He shouted at the empty interior of the warehouse. He couldn't see anyone else as he walked in through the large open doors that faced the river, but that didn't mean he weren't there. In fact, he knew beyond any doubt that he was hiding somewhere in the darkness. "Now give me my friend back." Silence replied as the blue hedgehog waited. He was anxious, as it was taking every ounce of the small amount of self discipline he had not to frantically search his entire building at super speed.

His ear twitched and he snapped his head toward the side, staring directly at the dark figure half clad in shadows kneeling on top of one of the large cargo crates stacked against the wall. It was that him, that Weasel, the same one that kidnapped Tails. He was watching the blue hedgehog from underneath his leather hat with a smug grin.

"Don't think coming early is going to help you, I've been expecting you for over an hour now."

"You didn't expect me to wait until Friday did you?" Sonic asked, turned toward him with narrowing eyes. Fang the Sniper didn't seem to be armed, apart from a knife at his side.

"You want your freak?" He asked rhetorically, gesturing over toward the dark back of the warehouse and instantly a single light came on from the ceiling, illuminating a single area, sitting or rather slouching in the middle of it, his hands, tails and legs bound by lengths of rope was Tails. He was completely alone, and appeared to be unconscious.

"If you've hurt him…" He began with disgust by the weasel interrupted him, standing up to his full height.

"He's fine…well, living, but that's the important thing."

"You son of a…"

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you." Fang snapped, a sudden sadistic streak to his eyes. "That is if you want your little mutant to remain breathing." Sonic pressed his lips together tightly and clenched his fists. The sounds of the breaking waves along the river behind him did little to soothe his anger. He looked back to Tails, he was breathing but goodness knows what these demented kidnapper had done. This was, no proven beyond all doubt that this was a trap. Knowing his luck deadly ninja's or some elaborate piece of machinery to keep in place was hidden inside every crate. Either way, this stank of Eggman.

Sonic turned to face his friend completely, he probably wasn't going to reach his friend without something lunging at him but regardless he kept walking, trying to keep as much as possible within eye sight. "Don't worry mate, there aren't any traps." Fang added quickly, sliding down from the top of the crate and standing directly in front of the exit. Sonic gave him one last contempt glance over his shoulder before steadily walking toward Tails.

He wasn't stupid enough to actually step into the shaft of light encircling the fox and trigger some kind of trap, only matures did something like that and Sonic had been in this kind of situation many times before.

"Hey Tails, you ok?" He asked, reaching forward. The second the words passed his lips there a loud clicking sound and without warning the strength from Sonic's limbs seemed to completely disappear. His legs gave away and he collapsed to his knees, barley able to support his weight even then. He gritted his teeth and tried to get up, but found he it impossible. Someone dealt Sonic a blow directly to his shoulders and he was forced down onto the floor. Before Sonic could do anything else, he felt the barrel of a gun press against his head and a boot against his back. "I thought you said, there weren't any traps?" Sonic managed to stutter, looking back toward the Weasel who stood over him.

"Had me fingers crossed mate." Fang replied sadistically, tipping his hat upward. "You see, installed underneath the floor is a special device I stole from the government about a month ago. It's called a gravity enhancer, it increases the gravitational force in a localized area. They were using it to speed up construction of buildings and the like, I find it's useful for holding rodents that won't slow down in place." Sonic tried to get up again but the combine force of the machine underneath him and another swift kick from Fang set him collapsing to the floor again. "If it's any conciliation, I'll have no need for your little freak after this so he'll be joining you in the beyond soon enough." The weasel's fingers began to squeeze around the trigger. There was a whooshing sound, like something streamlined passing through the air at high speed and suddenly Sonic realized whatever was holding him down had disappeared. With lightning fast moves he kicked the gun aside and was on his feet. Fang looked startled, then he looked down toward the ground where Sonic had been a moment ago. Lancing into the ground was a metal shuriken, it's blade sinking deep into the ground, so deep it had penetrated the device he'd hidden there.

"There's only one guy who can throw things that accurately." He turned to stare directly behind him, toward the entrance to the warehouse and the figure standing there over his defeated gang.

"Hello…Nack." Espio said, his Katana blade tightly in grip in one hand and in the other several shuriken tucked between each finger. The weasel and the Chameleon locked glares and for a single moment there was absolute silence. "Long time no see."

* * *

"Welcome aboard." Vector said with a toothy grin, shaking Mighty's hand. The teenage armadillo had the smuggest look one could possibly muster, having just completed the three entry tests with flying colours. Chaotix was a vigilante organisation with hardly a good reputation with the press, but many most ordinary people knew the rumours of their operations were greatly blown out of proportion.

"I knew you could do it." Espio said with a grin, giving his friend a friendly push. Mighty just laughed, pushing himself back up.

"Was there really any doubt?" He asked, pushing Espio back and the two of them began to laugh together as Nack and Vector looked down. They were all standing at the banks of a river just beyond the city limits. Mighty's final test had been to swim the ragging current carrying a cement block in his arms. He'd beaten Vector's record by two minutes. The red sky and setting orange sun cast long shadows over the long grass plains beyond the walls of Metropolis. No one really ventured this far east. A few miles in this direction lay the border between unoccupied territory and land currently belonging to the Eggman Empire.

"Kids, is that who we're hiring now?" Nack asked, giving the crocodile a sceptical glance. Vector chuckled deep in his throat.

"Your being short sighted Nack, he's a kid now sure, but give him a couple of years more experience and a little more training and he'll be a valuable asset." He replied, folding his arms behind his head. Nack pushed his lips together with an annoyed look on his face.

"If he can get us more funds, I might consider your words." Vector shook his head disappointingly.

"Is that all you care about Nack, money?" Nack was silent, he kept his eyes directly in front of him, locked onto the flowing river. A fish jumped out of the flowing liquid then dived back in again, the surface hardly disturbed.

"Yes." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

"I doubt my family would approve of this." Mighty said as he as Espio watched the road in front of them from their stake out point. Their intelligence hinted that a group of Metropalis' most wanted criminals would be meeting at the derelict garage on the other side of the road. If that information was correct, they wanted to be here to catch them when they showed up.

"What do you mean?" Espio asked back as rain began to rattle against the top of the roofs above the small trash strewn alleyway.

"My dad's always had high expectations, he wanted me to become a Doctor or the lawyer." He shuddered on the last one. Espio stared at him with wide eyes.

"You, a doctor? You faint at the sight of a needle!"

"Yeah well, it was when I had the measles inoculation that I realized I was never going to please by dad."

* * *

Another punch from Mighty finished the masked criminal off as Vector and Charmee freed the hostages from the lobby. The swat police watched in amazement as civilians began running out of the hotel front doors and toward the safety of the police lines as Vector dragged one of the bad guys out and tossed him towards the SWAT commander who stared at them with his mouth wide open in astonishment.

"This ones on the house, take the credit if you want." The crocodile put in before joining his comrades inside as the commander stared after him.

"On the house?!" Nack stated his left eye twitching. "On the house? Vector, this could have meant big rewards from hotel owners, not to mention award ceremonies from the mayor. Why on Mobius did you just turn all that down?" Vector simply laughed and slapped him on the back, nearly knocking the weasel over. Nack glared back at him, the faint tinge of rage in his eyes.

* * *

"Nack!" Mighty growled through gritted teeth. He raised his fists, clenching them so tight his gloves began to tear. "You'll pay for this!" He searched, throwing himself toward Chaotix's betrayer. He didn't care about all the guns pointed at him, in that moment all that he wanted was a single opportunity to land a good punch. He never got it. Nack shot around, his gun already in his hands. Espio watched in horror, time seemed to slow to a crawl and although he began to move to push him out of the way he was too late. The bullet tore through the air, heralded by a loud bang. Mighty actually seemed to hover there in mid air for a moment, sustained by that single act of betrayal. Then he fell and hit the ground with a thud that remained in the chameleons mind, imprinted forever. And that look, that pure evil look on Nack's face left no argument. He was enjoying every minute of this.

"MIIGGGGGGGHHHHTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!"

* * *

Fang was left silent for a moment, before a wide evil smile played over his lips. He slid his gun back into the concealed holder he'd withdrawn it from and stood facing his old team mate. Espio only tightened the grip of his sword.

"Come to kill me Espio? I thought Chaotix's number one rule was never to kill their enemies?" He asked sadistically. Espio bared his teeth and ran forward, his blade arched to the side ready to strike. Fang simply sidestepped, ducked under the swing and knocked Espio's feet out from under him. As the Chameleon hit the floor, Fang shot back up, twisted in mid air as he drew his knife. Espio pushed himself backwards to avoid the stab and at the same time wrapped the end of his long tail around Fang's neck, pulling the Weasel along with him. Grabbed a hold of a metal pivot in the warehouse floor, he threw Fang into the air. Now that his opponent was in a venerable position, Espio cast two shuriken through the air. Fang recovered in time, twisting his body around and entire 360 degrees to avoid being skewed.

The weasel landed on his feet with a loud thug on top of one of the crates.m

"Mighty was only 17." Espio began, his eyes burning with rage. "How could you, you traitorous monster?"

"Little punk shouldn't have gotten in my way!" The Weasel replied, his large tooth sliding out over his lips. Espio, loosing all self control darted forward with his katana again. The blow was so fast Fang was left crouching there for a single moment before he even realized something had happened. His hat parted into two pieces and fell down either side of his head, a good deal of his purple head fur going with it.

Now enraged, the weasel cut around as Espio tried to come at him from behind a dealt the chameleon a sharp kick to the chest, sending him flying into a wall. Espio cried out in pain as he hit, sliding down to the floor, he lost his grip of the sword. "You should have let it go Espio. I'd twice as skilled as you, just as good at tactics as Vector and more than enough to beat you." He took out his gun and pointed it directly at the stunned chameleon, not even hesitating to pull the trigger. The bang went off, but instead of what was supposed to happen, Espio simply disappeared in a blue haze.

Fang didn't eve have time to exclaim, as Sonic came directly up from under him with a flying punch. One of Fang's back teeth went flying from his mouth as the weasel himself was sent crashed through one of the crates, disappearing behind a cascade of wooden fragments.

"I don't need your help!" Espio snapped, pushing himself up, staring angrily at the blue hedgehog, who moments ago had pushed him aside, avoiding the bullet by inches. "Stay out of this, it doesn't concern you." Sonic stared at him with a half angry, yet confused a stare.

"Excuse me. My best friend gets kidnapped and suddenly it's none of my business." Espio's eye glanced over toward the unconscious Tails for a moment before snapping back.

"Take your friend and go. I have unfinished business." Several large pieces of wood went flying as Fang shot to his feet, his fur coated with splinters. Sonic was suddenly reminded of the foxes presence and his priorities became straight, Espio was partly right, the fight between the chameleon and the Weasel was none of his business. He was here for Tails and nothing else.

"Well if you're sure…" Espio reached for his katana and held the blade horizontally to his horn.

"I've never been more sure." Sonic stared at him, almost sensing the cold steadfast resolution in the chameleon before turning and after a moment of blue nothingness was by Tails' side. Now he was close up, he could see bruises under the foxes fur, nearly eclipsed by it's bright colour.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Fang snarled, turning, raising his gun to fire a shot toward them. Espio's shuriken hit his hand at a slant, not doing any serious damage by the force was enough to wedge the weapon away from the weasel's grasp. "Why must you always be in the way?" He snapped as the chameleon, before drawing his knife again and charging forward. Espio descended into a fighting stance. He was out of shuriken now, but he didn't need them at this point.

"This is for you Mighty."

* * *

The two blades, one long, one short clashed twice. Fang pushed himself out of his steadfast confrontation and tried to swing his feet around, attempting to knock Espio's out from under him. Espio anticipated the move and jumped, twisting his body through the air delivering a powerful kick to the Weasel's face. Recovering from it, Fang rebounded from the floor and slapped his own rigid tail again the chameleons side. Stunned for a moment, Fang took the opportunity to delivering a punch directly into Espio's gut. Espio cried out, spittle throwing itself from his gapping mouth.

Feeling that his enemy had been beaten, Fang let his guard down for a spilt second and that was all Espio needed to recover and deal a swift kick across Fang's belly. Several of the weasel's ribs cracked from the blow. Grunting in pain and frustration, Fang doubled back before charging again with his knife. Espio had fatigued himself by attacking before was wasn't able to move fast enough to avoid the slash. A long, thin, oozing red line lanced across his cheek.

"You know something Espio?" Fang asked, as the two of them broke to catch their breath. "I should have killed you all that night instead of settling for the rookie. At least that way I wouldn't have to keep tabs on you and the I might be able to earn some serious cash without interferance." The shot that took the life of his childhood friend still ringing in his ears, Espio charged forward, creaming in rage. This was what Fang had been counting on, in the spilt second before Espio could bring his katana blade across for a fatal slash, the weasel leapt backwards, his rigid tail pressing against the ground. This acting as a spring board and Fang somersaulted out of harms way, backflipping through the air, coming down behind Espio. The chameleon didn't even have time to look back as two fists wrapped together smashed itself into the back of his head. The blow was sharp and quick and it almost took a few seconds for it to effect him, but when it did, whatever strength was in Espio's legs gave way and he collapsed to his knees. Fang spun around and finished it, kicking the chameleon to the ground. "Told you. I was after all, the most experienced fighter in Chaotix." He kicked the katana from Espio's hand and sent it skidding across the floor. "Experienced enough to know that all that, we don't kill our enemies crap Vector was telling us doesn't work in the real world." Espio twisted his face and stared up with hate in his eyes.

"I agree." he snarled and jabbed a fist upward, a shrunken between his fingers. Fang cried out as the metal sank into the flesh on his stomach, pain spreading through his body, rendering him paralysed for a moment. Espio pulled himself up and smashed a kick directly across his front knocking the weasel across the floor.

"For just this night, I'm going to throw my morals out the window and I will kill you."

* * *

Eggman smashed a fist into the control panel, fuming. The metal plating craning under the pressure.

"Stupid weasel!" He snarled, glaring with rage burning in his eye sat the screen directly in front of him. "He had Sonic just where I've always wanted him and he let him get away!" Decoe and Becoe stood behind him, ignoring another of their creators violent mood swings. Every monitor inside the broadcasting chamber was showing the chaos done there and Eggman could see plainly things were not going his way. "Must I do everything myself?!!!" He added, swinging his chair around and pushing himself to his feet. He snatched at the control panel in front of him and brought up a microphone, wired into the Final Egg's robotic troops control system, allowing the would be dictator verbal control of all the robots being stationed here all at once. "Attention alpha and Delta squadrons, full priority assault, co-ordinates 5,7,8,9,3. GO GO GO GO!" Alarms began blared all over Final Egg and all most at once, complying to his orders, a set set of airlock doors that opening out toward the planet below opened up. As soon as the large iron doors had completely swung open, two drop ships each carrying a total of a dozen Dreadnaughts, the largest robot warriors in Eggman's arsenal. on board launched out at top speed, the fire from their thrusters melting the doors open. The ships were only there for a moment, before they became blaring orange objects as they began to enter the Earth's atmosphere.

* * *

As Sonic soured with Tails over his shoulder, he nearly collided with the side of the ThornDyke's car. The blue hedgehog didn't even bother to ask what Amy and Chris were doing here as they stared out from the back seat. He simply handed the unconscious fox to them and they took his limp form without question.

"Is he alright?" Tanaka asked, looking back from the drivers seat. Sonic bared his teeth and glared back toward the warehouse. His impulsive, often dominant side telling him to charge back in there and take retribution. Had circumstances been a little different, he would have obeyed that impulse and run back to kick the stuffing out of that weasel. Vector pulled himself out of another of the backseats with Charmee quickly following.

"Where's Espio?" He asked, or rather demanded. Sonic was about to answer when a sudden roaring filled the air and a sudden shadow cast it's dark influence over them. Looking up, they caught a glimpse of the two drop ships entering the atmosphere before their attentions were otherwise preoccupied as landing all around them with deafening thuds were Dreadnaught after Dreadnaught, their crosshairs already locked onto their small group. Dreadnaughts were gigantic robots with a humanoid appearance but will bulky limbs and triangular heads that pivoted around on a single points, a pair of glass eyes hidden within a visor staring out from either side of the fish like mouth. Each one standing a good ten foot tall. Tanaka put his foot down and the small open toped car swerved violently to the side, skidding through the legs of a metallic titan and toward the main road away from the docks. Several of the robots turned and started after it.

"Sorry to leave you guys by yourself…" Sonic managed to say before the ripple of travelling at high speed blurred his speech. Sonic being the primary target, the others activated their jet propulsion systems and soured after him.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Charmee asked, staring at the large amount of giant robots in pursuit of the escaping vehicle.

"Those guys can take care of themselves." Vector replied, slowly turning to give the warehouse a glare. "We've got to get to Espio before he does something he'll regret for the rest of his life."

* * *

Sam Speed was already on duty when Sonic soured past at high speed, overtaking his high speed police car with ease. Sam was about to charge after him and charge him with high speed running within a populated area, when smashing past him in pursuit of the blue hedgehog were over twenty of the Eggman Empire finest troops, flying in a V-formation down main street, people running in terror as soon as they saw them. Chaos erupting as cars swerved to a stand still, some crashing into one another

"What the hell?!" Sam began, starting after the whole spectacle in amazement, before regaining his senses and turning on his radio. "This is Speed King calling central, priority 1 emergency on main street. Counting over twenty Eggman Empire robots in pursuit of high speed hedgehog, requesting G.U.N back-up. Over." The reply was almost immediate.

"G.U.N chopper backup already on it's way, pull back and let the military do their job, Speed King. Over." Sam stared at the radio build into his car like it had just told him to go jump off a bridge.

"And miss a chance to put Sonic in my debt, forget it." Before the other end of the line could reply, Sam changed the frequency. "This is Speed King to all members of S-Team, drop whatever you're doing and get over to main street. Alpha priority, I repeat Alpha priority!"

(In Chris' voice)

Chaotix Vs Fang, Sonic Vs the Eggman Empire, don't miss the conclusion. Metal Sonic just got his wakeup call. See it next time on Sonic X, A long overdue duel. don't miss it!


	5. Episode 3, part 1

(I do not own Sonic, sonic X etc...)

S.O.N.I.C, GO!

S.O.N.I.C, GO!

GO! GO! GO! GO! LET'S GO!

Episode 3: A long overdue duel

* * *

Police vans marked with the letters, SWAT came charging across the now cleared inner city streets and the drivers had to violently force their vehicles to the side as Sonic the Hedgehog came charging down the road at high speed, closely followed by a swarm of Dreadnaughts, missiles and bullets filling the gaps in the air.

"Must go faster, must go faster!" Chris kept repeating, staring out the bar of the ThornDyke's open roofed car as Tanaka pushed the old antique to it's limit, the several Dreadnaughts that had broken of from the main group and was following them away from the empty city streets toward the exit to the desert roads.

Sonic, who was still dodging through the city streets had purposely chosen to stay here to keep the mass majority of these things away from his friends, although he was still left with the problem of the three already following them. He'd just have to worry about them later, right now he had other priorities. A Dreadnaught came swooping down, the large machine gun mounted to it's right hand already in full swung. Sliding to the left to avoid the stream of fire, Sonic twisted through a narrow alleyway at high speed and came out onto the in-complete inner city highway. A twisting junction of roads that interwoven the buildings.

"Ah nuts!" Sonic said to himself, seeing huge gaps in the roads and large construction equipment blocking his path. Forced onto the hard shoulder by a robot as it swooped down, bullets flying through the air, Sonic leapt over a gap, grabbed an overhanging hook from and used the momentum to swing completely around to another road, confusing several of them for their actions to lag in speed just long enough to crash into the side of a brick wall, one exploding on contact and the other receiving a serious injury to it's left hand side, rendering it incapable of flight.

"Hey Sonic, you look like you could use a little help." Stated a booming voice as several red planes swept past, blasting two Dreadnaughts with missile fire, sending them tumbling down to the streets below. Sonic looked up in mid run to see Sam's arrogant face sneering at him.

"Gee." The hedgehog began. "Ya think?!"

* * *

Fang dealt a kick to Espio mid section and the chameleon swung back, the passion of rage in his movements as he winded the weasel, before knocking him to the ground. Fang landed on his back, now to beaten, covered with cuts and bruises to fight back. He lay there as Espio smashed another punch into this face, pressing him to the ground. His hand shaking, the chameleon reached for his katana and drew the blade slowly, making sure Fang got a good view of his bloody reflection in it's surface.

"Enjoy your last breath." Espio snarled, sneered at him as drew his arm back, the katana blade ready to plunge directly into the weasel's chest. Fang looked up in horror, realizing that for the first time in his entire life, there was no escape. Before the chameleon could slash at him, a strong white gloved hand shot out and took hold of Espio's arm, keeping him stationery. Espio blinked and looked back, to be met by Vector's stern glare.

"Forget it Espio." The crocodile said slowly. Espio slapped his hand away, staring back at him defiantly.

"Don't…DON'T you dare try to stop me Vector." He said between clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed to silts. "This…piece of filth killed Mighty. He...HAS to die." Vector maintained his grip, casting one contempt glance toward the defeated weasel lying on the ground, struggling for breath.

"No Espio, he doesn't. Do this, and you'll be no better than he is." Espio snarled and turned back and tried to jab his sword forward but Vector's lash out again, taking out of his arm, the grip prevented the blade from going any where near it's target. "He resorted to murder, and Mighty paid the price." Espio tried again. "You're not like him Espio, I know you better than that." Tears began forming at the edge of the Chameleons eyes as he tried again and again, only to have Vector stop him. "Would Mighty want you to be like him?" A lump formed in Espio throat and finally he let himself go limp, his arms falling by his side. Fang stared up at him, blood trailing out of his left nostril, staining his white muzzle.

"Oh don't fall for that crap Espio. What happened to all that big talk you were doing a minute ago? I though you were going to kill me for offing that friend of yours?" He leaned up, spat a mixture of spittle and blood out of his mouth and sneered at them. "Come on, be a man, kill me!" It was almost like he was living it all again, he could hear, smell, taste and even feel everything that happened within that moment as the life faded from his friends eyes. Instead of rage, Espio was left hollow, without emotions at all, an empty shell.

"Don't Espio. He's not worth it." Vector began as the chameleons fingers began tensing around the hilt of his katana. "Let's take him in. Show everyone what a murdering piece of scum he is and let him rot in jail for the rest of his natural life." He put the other hand on the chameleons shoulder. "I know your angry Espio, so am I. But we must never resort to murder, the moment we do we're no different from the scum we bring in." There was a pause, Espio desperately trying to keep his composure, trying to suck back in his tears. Vector watched him carefully as his finger loosened around. There was a loud clank as the chameleons' weapon hit the floor.

Fang started laughing as the strength gave way in his arms and he collapsed to his back.

"And I thought you were smarter than that." Espio glared down at him, his eyes now seemingly cleared of rage and left as calm as they had been before all this happened.

"You're the stupid one Nack, we're taking you in." There was a sudden crackling, like a bolt of lightning passing through the warehouse before without any warning what so ever the shadows around them seemingly came to life. Fang looked up in terror as the darkness swept into the likeness of some hooded figure, before it swarmed on him, wrapping itself around him. Vector and Espio watched in a mixture of horror and utter amazement as the shadows swallowed their traitor. He screamed out load, desperately grasping for anything to pull himself away but his efforts were futile. Within moments, the shadows had him completely and with one last terrified expression he disappeared into darkness.

* * *

Outside the city, speeding down a desert road as fast as the car would go, Tanaka was trying desperately to shake the three robots flying after them. Evidentially, Eggman wanted Tails dead almost as much as Sonic. The fox was still un-conscious, lying in the back between Chris and Amy, both of whom were watching over the back with extremely worried expressions on their faces as the robots drew nearer and nearer, within targeting distance.

"Young master, Mr. ThornDyke's car was not built for high speed chases, we can not exceed the current speed." Tanaka exclaimed, trying to keep his voice to an appropriate Bulter-eqse type level, but failed miserably. Flying in a V type formation, almost over the top of them, their current leader swinging his right arm out, the large machine gun mounted to it ready to fire. Tanaka swerved, trying to avoid the stream of bullets and he managed to do it extremely well, until that is their lead came directly in front of their vehicle, landing with a loud thud, gun already at the ready. Tanaka was frozen, staring in horror, knowing full well there would be no way on Earth he could avoid this next on.

Before the robot could fire, it's head exploded in a fire storm. the robot swayed in mid air for as moment, before another exposition just below it's neck forced it down towards the ground. As it hit the ground with a defending crunch, it sank into the sands, smoke and flames rising from it's metal carcass are giant pillars reaching for the sky. Before the final two could retaliate to whatever had happened, a spinning golden object tore through both their chests in one shot, throwing them down from their safe hover landing beside their fallen comrade in similar fashion. Tanaka slammed on the brake and the car swerved to a noisy stop. Amy and Chris stared out of the back in surprise and utter confusion at the remains just a few hundred feet away.

"What just happened?" Chris began after a brief silence, the crackling from the fires in the background. There was a groaning sound and the car shock gently.

"I did." Replied a voice and as the two of them turned around, they could see exactly what Tanaka was staring at in amazement. Sitting on the hood of their car with his legs crossed was the black hedgehog with red stripped quills they all knew so well. "Didn't think to find you guys out here." He added, turning to give them a glare with his blood red eyes.

"Shadow?" Chris began quietly, stunned into silence.

"What are you doing here?" Amy continued for him as the black hedgehog flipped himself up onto his feet.

"I could very well ask you the same question." Shadow replied, narrowing an eye at them before looking past them toward the city limits and the towers of smoke beginning to drift upward. "I take it Sonic's the middle of this chaos?"

"That goes without saying." Amy stated, putting her hands on her hips while the rest of them simply sat thee dumbfounded. Shadow sighed angrily through his nose, growling deeply in his throat.

"I'd best help the poor idiot out then." He added, although sounding almost reluctant, before somersaulting over them with acrobatic skill. Before his feet even touched the ground, the jets on his soul flared up and skating on pure light, he became a blinking dot on the horizon, souring toward the city.

* * *

Despite the S-Team's help, Sonic still had at least ten robots on his tail and by now Sam and his boys had their hands full. He was on his own now, well not that it mattered. Only ten now? He shouldn't have any problem dealing with only ten of Eggman's clunkers. Turning about on one foot, Sonic shot back forward his pursuers, flipping his body over itself to forma tight ball. Caught by surprise, the first two robots were powerless to stop Sonic tearing through their metallic armour, leaving them lifeless husks that toppled over the side of the highway toward the empty streets below. Sensing Sonic's change in tactics, the other robots soured to a higher attitude and began opening fire with targeting missiles. Sonic, who had long since anticipated this, dodged them all with acrobatic ease, before shooting up the side of a building and back flipping, standing firmly on the lat head of one of their number.

"Come on, you've got your orders, Fire!" He yelled over to the others, waving his arms. The other robots twisted their upper bodies around and fired several missiles toward. Sonic shook his head. "So predictable." Leaping off at the last moment, the missiles collided with the robot he had been standing on, sending it plummeting toward the ground.

Back on the road, Sonic started running again, now with only seven following him. Now, he was actually having fun. Unfortunately he knew he wouldn't have time to drag this out, not inside a populated area. People might get hurt. He was about to back flip to attempt another spin attack when one of the robots activated some sort of power boast and soured right up to him, smashing a steal fist into the hedgehogs back. Sonic collided with the assault, grit flying into his mouth from the collision.

"Next time, watch your back rookie." Stated an arrogant voice. As Sonic opened his eyes, he could see he was lying at the feet of someone who was wearing strange black and white trainers with a thick, red plastic rim around the outside. He smiled, pulling himself to a crouching position as Shadow fired a chaos spear attack directly into the robots face, knocking it up into the air were it was a perfect target for one of the black hedgehog's flying kicks.

"Six left, three for you, three for me." Sonic stated, wiping the wise of his mouth with the back of his glove. "Let's see who can destroy his the fastest?" Shadow gave him a glare, before a short smile appeared on the ultimate life-forms face.

"I'll destroy all six before you can warm up." He said confidently as the remaining robots got into a circle formation in the air.

"Well Mr. Immortal, let's see if you can back that statement up."

* * *

Eggman screamed out in rage and in pure frustration he banged his head against the metal support pillar that stood in the centre of the dark chamber. Decoe and become looked up from their monitors as their creator began cursing into the air, his mad hoping and enraged jumping looking like some form of river dance. The monitors all around them watched the fight below, how Sonic and Shadow tore through the robots within three minutes, Shadow winning their little bet by destroying four with a Chaos Spear attack a second before Sonic could finish it.

"Fang failed! I should have know it would happen!" Eggman managed to blurt out in the midst of violent curses.

"Sir, perhaps you should sit down and take a deep…?" Decoe began to suggest, Eggman simply shot him glare so piercing he trailed off. "Breath…" Eggman finally managed to control his raving, took a deep breath and stood to attention, his eyes glaring at the monitor in front of him. His fists clenching and unclenching. His logical mind taking control once again, he found himself once again his old self. He shouldn't have been surprised really. Sonic always came out on top somehow, whether it was skill or just dumb luck was irrelevant.

Why couldn't he just die? Why did he have to keep going on? Now Eggman was in a no choice situation, he was out of time. If he put off his invasion any longer, the world's combined military force would be enough to repel his forces. Sonic would, beyond any doubt, pose a problem but that was a risk Eggman would have to take.

"Alright, then it comes down to this then." Fang's failure now completely erased from his mind, he turned his attention to the matter at hand. "Computer, display all files classified as enemies, cross-references; rodents, interfering furies and do-gooders."

"Processing." The computer replied in a monotone flat voice and before Eggman could blink his request was completed. On the main screen, a list of name came up, with information on height, age, sex and special abilities next to them.

shadowhedgehogultimatelifeform

Amyrose

Milestailsprower

Knucklesechidna

rouge bat

OmegaE123

And directly at the top of the list was the file name: sonichedgehog1

"These pests will have to be dealt with later." Eggman snarled. "Unfortunate, no we have run out of time. Begin preparations for the invasion immediately. We leave as soon as possible." Decoe and Becoe saluted their creator as he sat back down in his chair, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses at Sonic on the monitor. "What is is about you rodent?" He asked himself, staring a little harder. "Why do you survive one trail after another, why do you defy me and win so effortlessly?" He leaned backing the chair. "I would love to know the answer."

* * *

By the time Sonic and the others arrived back the ThornDyke Estate, the sun had already set and night had cast itself over the sky. Shadow was following from a distance and by the time he arrived at the door, Sonic was already carrying Tails inside Chuck's garage.

"He looks pretty bad." Chris stated, giving the bruises a single glance. "I'll call a doctor." Sonic nodded in approval and the boy disappeared toward the main house. Shadow stepped past to let Chris past, staring after him for a moment, noting the presence of the Gardener, who was just putting away the lawn mower, who he also noticed was watching the black hedgehog intently. Sneering at him, Shadow turned back and entered the garage, but not before noticing a large truck with G.U.N written in big white letters on it's side pull away from in front of the house and start off down the street. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Sonic, he gave the small fox and glance.

"A door of two of rest and he'll be fine." He stated. Sonic glared up at him.

"And since when were you a qualified doctor?" He asked and Shadow chuckled to himself, the private joke being that Prof. Gerald had programmed into his creation all necessary medical knowledge in case of severe injury or injection. "Just what are you doing back here anyway?" The blue hedgehog added, suddenly looking curious as Amy began to carry Tails up toward Chuck's laboratory.

"I was attacked if you must know." That peaked Sonics interest.

"Attacked?" He asked back.

"Yeah, don't know who by exactly but I was hoping you guys could help me with that.

Chuck was sitting in a chair beside the empty table, balancing his head on his hands, looking defeated. He looked up briefly as Sonic and the others ascended into the small laboratory. The first thing that became obvious was the mess, the chairs had been completely overturned, all Chuck's papers and disagrams scattered across the floor. One thing stuck out above all others, Metal Sonic was gone.

"Chuck, what's going on, where's Metal?" The blue hedgehog asked, looking around for his steal rival. Chuck heaved himself out of the chair and walked over to him, his arms falling by his sides in defeat.

"Somehow, I'm not sure how exactly, the Government managed to find out I was repairing him. G.U.N robots were here a few minutes ago, they confiscated his body, it's being taken away for disposal right now." The grey haired scientist stated sadly before thumping the table in anger. Sonic stared at him, it actually took a few moments for his statement to actually sink in.

"What…" He managed to say almost silently, but loud enough for Chuck to hear it. Amy laid Tails down on one of the pillows as Shadow poked his head through the trap door.

"You mean that truck I saw leaving a minute ago?" Chuck nodded, looking miserable. Sonic growled deep in his throat, pressing his lips together hard.

"Be right back!"

* * *

Stuart watched as Sonic, closely followed by Shadow raced out the garage doors. He hated having to report them, but it _WAS_ his duty and what they were doing was insane beyond all measure. Why re-activate this killing machine, it didn't make any sense. Well, whatever their reasons it didn't matter any more. Once the transport truck rondavued with the escorting force it would be taken to Area 99, where once it's technology wad copied it's metal shell would be destroyed.

"Sorry Chris." He muttered himself.

* * *

Finding the truck again was a breeze. It was the only one on the streets, after what had happened in the city centre people were too timid to venture outside. Racing alongside the truck, Sonic turned to give the driver a glare.

"PULL OVER!!" He shouted, but then hesitated, seeing the driver was a G.U.N robot, incapable of understanding, let alone obeying his orders. The truck kept speeding on, and Sonic alongside it, Shadow quickly coming up the other side as they made their way onto the freeway out of the city. Shadow threw his weight forward, leaping up onto the roof of the vehicle, landing in a crouching position. Noticing it, the robot sitting in the drivers seat leant out the window and fired a laser beam from the rifle on it's right hand, Shadow bent his entire body to the side, narrowly avoiding it before spinning completely around and firing a Chaos spear at his aggressor. The robot took a direct hit and humbled out of the window, rolling along the road as it began to disappear. "I've got to learn how to do that!" Sonic muttered to himself before racing in front of the truck, switching himself around so he was running backwards. As he'd expected, the truck's back doors opened just long enough for it was eject four G.U.N

Beetle units, primarily recon robots but armed with a nasty laser rifle on it's fronts anyway. Shadow looked back to see them fly up, preparing to blast him. He was forced to move off of the truck, somersaulting back to the road, but not without first landing a solid blow to one of them, leaving it a smouldering pile of metal on the road.

Sonic was forced to the side of the truck as the vehicle sped on, flying down the highway toward the desert, and Area 99 that lay somewhere out there in the wasteland. Shadow sped on, trying to get within distance to target one of the trucks tyres but found the beetles were doing whatever was necessary to keep him from it. Sonic tried to pull the door the now empty passengers seat open but was quickly beaten back by the one driver, diverting its attention from the steering wheel just one enough to fire a shot at him.

Inside the truck, placed inside a containment crate with metal bars strapping his limbs down, Metal Sonic lay silent, two Large Laser Hunter units on either side, their weapons kept at the ready. Their captor didn't move a muscle, he simply lay there as lifeless as he'd always been. As the truck hit a pot hole in the road, it's interior jumped upward violently and the metallic corpse received a heavy smashed to the side to the head. The robot guard's were only programmed for guard duty and so didn't notice that the androids systems had been restarted.

System re-start incited. Running system diagnostic…

Weapons: 100%

Engines: 100%

Electronics: Power output: 100%

Preparing system reboot, commencing….

Accessing memory data banks, replaying last recorded file….

* * *

"I…don't understand." Metal Sonic stated, managing to push himself onto his back, showing that his legs were no longer capable of supporting his weight. "I had the Master Emerald, the most powerful source of Chaos Energy in existence. I am the ultimate machine, perfect in nearly every detail. How could I loose to you?" Sonic hesitated only for a moment, before approaching. He knelt down beside the robotic hedgehog, staring down toward its broken face with a stern glare.

"Perfect? I don't think so Metal." He said simply. "No ones perfect, not even a machine." Metal Sonic looked up, puzzlement in his eyes. "Think about it Metal, you've been telling us that you've risen past the requirements Eggman had for you. Yet, all you've done to prove it is try to destroy everything, the very job Eggman built you for." Metal actually understood now. He'd wanted so badly to be more than he was, to improve himself. Sonic was right, although he was loathed to admit it, the blue hedgehog had shown him that he was still little more than a Eggman Empire robot. Hardly the being of greatest he kept telling himself he was. Shame burned in him, how could be have been so stupid? The answer to his desire for evolution had been there in front of him all along, and he'd been foolish enough to fall back into the old style way of thinking that evolution came only with the increase of power. "Well, ta for now Metal." Sonic added, standing up. "Perhaps I'll see you later huh? It'd been fun to fight you again, just for kicks if nothing else."

"It'd been fun to fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

"To fight you again."

Reboot complete…

With a sudden red flare, Metal Sonic's visor lit up, the two disc like eyes once again staring out at the world.

* * *

Sonic came to a screeching halt as an explosion tore through the back end of the truck and the vehicle spun across the road at a dangerous speed, crashing head first into a streetlamp. The blue hedgehog watch, open mouthed as a dark shape moving as super fast speed tore it's way out from the back doors before a fireball claimed the vehicle in it's entirety. Shadow had the duck as a pierce of flaming wreckage narrowly missed him. Sonic was forced to shield his eyes against the bright flare. When he looked back, a tall bellowing cloud of smoke rising into the night sky. The fires consuming the truck completely. Shadow came up beside the blue hedgehog and as the two of them stared, Sonic could make out a streamlined shape amongst the flames, it was a figure and it was walking towards him, a pair of red eyes glowing amongst the fire. With it's right arm, it tossed the smouldering remains of a G.U.N laser hunter toward him, parts of it's scolded metallic frame falling loose as it rolled. Sonic stared down at the mss now at his feet, before looking up again. Stepping out of the flames now was his robotic double, the android created by Dr. Eggman to be his destroyer. The machine that nearly wiped out Station Square. Large, curved talons on each finger, several large quills with a serrated edge lancing out from it's head. Apart from the metallic differences, this robot was an exact copy of himself. A single metallic spike for a nose and a black visor with red disc topped optics for eyes. Each synthetic limb covered with broad sheets of armour.

This was Metal Sonic.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Metal Sonic

Sex: n/a

Species: Robot

Age: 1

Job description: Sonic's metallic copy, designed by Doctor Eggman to be the perfect Hedgehog hunter.


	6. Episode 3, part 2

I do not own Sonic...etc

* * *

Flip Card 2:

Name: Charles (Chuck) Thorndyke

Sex; male

Age: 65

Species: human

Job description: Inventor, Chris' grandfather.

* * *

"Er…hi." Sonic eventually began, forgetting all other words in the English language. Metal Sonic didn't reply, he simply stood there with the flames behind him with dancing reflections on his metal armour. Silently, he raised his right arm, directly his open palm toward them, his steal talons tensed in an arch. A ball of chaos energy flipped into life between the digits, buzzing with a green glow. Before any of them could move, Metal Sonic fired a blast right in their face. The force was so strong that it threw both hedgehogs off of their feet, hurling them across the ground several feet before impacting the ground.

"You had him repaired?" Shadow asked as the two of them pulled themselves up, both with a splitting headache. Sonic had barely begun to pick himself up when Metal Sonic flew at him, pinning the hedgehog to the ground with precise, calculated movements, keeping his arms pinned by his side, the talons on each hand keeping each one in a tight grip.

Shadow, now back on his feet came charging over. Metal Sonic's head swerved around as the black hedgehog reached him, and so did both his legs, dealing two super fast kicks into the ultimate life form. The first winded him in the stomach and the second smashed itself across his face, flooring him in an instant. Shadow fell to the ground with a loud thud and did not get up again, knocked unconscious. Turning his attention back to Sonic, the glow from the metallic hedgehog's eyes seemed to increase ten fold as Sonic struggled underneath him. Pushing one foot against Metal's torso, Sonic kicked the android of him, throwing the machine into the air while he back-flipped off the road.

The two rocket engines Chuck had installed on the back of each of Metal Sonic's legs kicked in action and using their thrusters Metal Sonic hovered in the air to maintain his balance, before sopping down, trying to slash the Hedgehog across the side with his talons. Sonic sidestepped twice to avoid the swings, hoverer he didn't move fast enough on the last one and the tips of those razor sharp claws managed to catch his right shoulder, leaving four , shallow, but stinging cuts. Sonic hissed from between his teeth, ignoring the pain as Metal Sonic turned about in mid air and came charging forward again, still distracted by the pain Sonic let the robot smash a kick into his face, knocking him to the ground again.

Sonic strained to get up, only to come face to face with Metal, who was standing over him with his hands on his hips, staring down at him with his glowing red eye intensifying each second.

And the without any warning whatsoever, the last thing Sonic expected happened. The glow from Metal's eyes died away and the robot stepped back a couple of spaces, letting Sonic scrapple frantically out from under him, and then he started laughing. He put his hands on his hips and started laughing. Sonic stared up at him in bewilderment.

"The look on your face." Metal Sonic between laughs. "I wish you could have seen it." Sonic paused to catch his breath and stared up.

"Metal?" He began, questioningly. The robot offered a hand toward him, and after a second of intense hesitation Sonic took it and Metal Sonic pulled him up to his feet.

"Sort of." The robotic hedgehog replied. "Although as you see I've had something of a personality change since we last met."

"You're telling me." The hedgehog said, almost stuttering. "What happened to all that, **_I will destroy you all _**talk?" Metal Sonic actually seemed to hesitate, then looked up at the star lit sky.

"Something, I'm not sure what, must happened to my central processing motherboard while I was offline." He said, putting his arms behind his head in a very human like gesture. "Perhaps it was damaged during the final battle, or perhaps it's core memory was altered while I was being repaired. I like to think that some part of your personality rubbed of on me when you dealt that last Chaos Control blow as Nazo. That's not really important." The turned to give Sonic a friendly glance, which in itself was quite remarkable given his metallic face and piercing red eyes. "What is, is that we finish our duel." Sonic narrowed an eyes questioningly. "Don't you remember? While I lay broken and battered, you offered me a re-match." The robotic hedgehog smashed a fist into his palm. "Well I'm fired up and ready to go when you are." Sonic was silent, still trying to take it all in. The situation seemed so alien there was a moment when the blue hedgehog actually convinced himself that he was dreaming. "Oh er, Sorry about that cut there." He added, pointing to that graces on Sonic's shoulder. Sonic managed a crude smile.

"It's nothing, but did you have to floor Shadow over there?" The robot cast a momentary glance to the black hedgehog lying on the road face down.

"I didn't want him interfering in our fight, so I put him to sleep for a bit. He'll be up in around an hour or two. So, you ready to go?" Sonic snapped his head from side to side.

"What you think I had you repaired for?" He asked, assuming a fighting stance, only hesitated when he heard sirens blare off in the distance. "Only, I don't think here's a good place for it." Metal looked past him up the road towards the city and the blaring lights of squad cars approaching up the highway.

"Ok, then where do you suggest." Sonic smirked and tapped the side of his nose.

"I know a place."

* * *

Shadow rubbed the back of his head slowly and began to pull himself up of the ground, his body almost groaning in reluctance. Short term memory returning, the black hedgehog opened his eyes. To his surprise, he found himself no longer lying on the highway road, but instead on the roof of the Thorndyke mansion, Amy and the others staring up at him from the ground. Tanaka had just put a ladder up against the wall and was halfway up it by the time Shadow stirred. The black Hedgehog sat up and stared out the early morning sky, blinking in surprise and confusion.

"How the hell did I get here?"

* * *

A high plateau of rock, carved the side of a mountain was hidden in the barren wasteland of the desert. Sonic stood on one side, Metal of the other, the two facing each other. Sonic with a wide smile on his face, Metal simply staring. Sonic had been waiting a long time for this. His long anticipated re-match with his metallic rival, the blue hedgehog was burning with anticipation to get this started.

Metal Sonic moved first, throwing a fist forward, which Sonic easily dodged before trying to swing back with a kick. Metal caught his leg as it swung, then turned around and tossed the blue hedgehog over his shoulder into the air. Without a single moments hesitation, he aimed his left hand palms directly at Sonic, firing a beam of chaos energy directly toward him. Sonic recovered in time and twisting around in mid air narrowly avoiding the blast.

The blue hedgehog landed firmly on both feet, the raced toward with a fist drawn back, but this was simply for show, to fool Metal Sonic into the wrong contour attack. It worked perfectly, Metal raised his bracers up to his face in fighting stance leaving his legs unprotected. At the last second, Sonic swung around, knocking the androids legs out from under him. Sonic simply kept on running as Metal hit the ground with a loud thud, crossing the desert floor in no time. Metal Sonic watched him for a moment, before righting himself with a simple acrobatic flip of his body and charging after him. As the two of them became Blue and red glowing blurs, they spun across the desert. A man, whose truck had broken down near an oasis watched the strange phenomenon from the drivers seat. To him, it looked like two distant fireflies flying desperately at each other, clashing, separating then clashing again. He was too far away to notice that each time they charged, they exchanged a multitude of lightning fast kicks and punches. This stalemate went on for several minutes before Metal finally broke away, re-directing his path towards the edges of the desert and the mountains region on the horizon. Sonic sneered and charged after him.

Entering the Red Mountain region, Metal Sonic had the advantage here. He was perfectly sure Sonic had selected the arena so suit himself, so Metal Sonic though turnabout was fair play. Eggman had once used this place as a base, details maps of the region were still on record inside his database. Making a sharp left turn, the robot skimmed through a narrow opening between two columns of rock.

Sonic didn't follow.

According to his data, there was another opening just up ahead that lead back into open space. He could use that to come up behind Sonic, launching a perfect attack. As soon he reached the opening, Sonic dodged in front of him and landed a kick directly to his face, knocking him sideways and into the side of the cliff wall.

"You'll have to do better than that Metal." Sonic jeered, before racing away as Metal pried himself off the wall, bits of rock crumbling away with him.

The two of them shot up a tall pillar of rock that lanced out of a ravine between two cliff faces, each re-bounding off a ledge to come flying at each other in mid air, exchanging kicks and punches as they fell to the ground again. Sonic barred his teeth as he felt something within his body crunch as Metal dealt him a super hard kick to the chest, and yet despite the nagging twitch of pain he was receiving he kept going, twisting his mid section around fact enough to get a kick, followed by a super fast punch in.

Sonic lead Metal out of the mountains and best toward the desert, the robot now sufficiently annoyed after gaining a face full of rock. On the sandy roads neither one of them had the advantage, so here the fight could go either way. Just the kind of odds Sonic enjoyed, turned about on one foot, Sonic charged back toward a surprised Metal, who had just enough to time to put his guard up before Sonic bombarded him with a barrage of kicks.

Again Metal took hold of Sonic's foot, spun around several times but this time instead of tossing him into the air, he turned about-face and slammed the hedgehog into the ground. The moments Sonic's nose tossed the sand he rolled to the side before Metal could launch another attack. Metal lead the assault again with two punches to either side of Sonic's face, before a knee directly into his stomach, knocking the wind out of the Hedgehog.

Sonic staggered back for a few paces, waiting for a few moments to catch his breath.

"If…I didn't…know any better…I'd say you've improved." He said between drawn out breaths as he recovered. "But that's impossible, you've been lying on Chuck's table for two months."

"Oh I have improved Sonic." Metal Replied, reassuming a fighting stance. "In ways not even I dare to fathom." Now fully recovered, Sonic leapt forward, trying to catch Metal Sonic off guard with another barrage of kicks. Metal slid to the side, bringing his claws forward, narrowly scraping Sonic across the arm. The fight resumed, going on a stalemate of blow after blow for hour after hour and as the sun began to rise over the mountains, neither one of them seemed to be making any head way against the other.

The two broke apart to catch their breath. Metal Sonic's armour was covered in dents from the multiple blows he had sustained, although Sonic was hardly any better of. Cuts and bruises had been forced on nearly every limb. Sonic began to wonder exactly what he could now to win this. He'd been fighting all night and was nearly worn out, the only comfort being that Metal didn't seem to have anything left in him either. Of course that didn't mean either one of them as going to give up until the other conceded. "My sensors tell me you have two cracked ribs and a fractured arm." Metal Sonic said as the two of them began circling each other. Mentioning his injuries seemed to make them sting more.

"Well I don't need sensors to tell me that metal chest plate of ours is near falling off." Sonic replied and as if on cue whatever was holding Metal's chest plate on gave way and fell to the ground with a soft clank. A proud smirk crossed the blue hedgehog's face. Metal looked down or a moment before looking back.

"Don't suppose either case makes any difference."

"Nope."

Metal slammed a flying kick into Sonic, sending him flying across the sand, recovering from the blow just in time to force and arm down, two fingers trailing in the sand, putting himself the right way up. The moment his foot touched the sand again he soured forward at super fast speed, using the advantage to land two blows into Metal Sonic's head. Swinging his entire body around, Sonic was able to find enough time to land another several kicks directly into his chest, knocking him sideways across a sand dune, denting the metal skin of his left arm. Metal's reflexes had been slowed and his contour attack was sluggish, but fast enough however to hit Sonic across the face, forcing him backwards.

As the sun's ray touched Sonic's leg he glanced up, realizing exactly what time of day it was. "Dawn already? Man I should probably be getting back." He added, rubbing the back of the neck, stretching his muscles. Metal was still for several seconds, before dropping out of a fighting stance. Sonic looked up toward Metal, who, despite his unmoveable features looking disappointed. "Yeah I suppose the fight isn't finished yet." The blue hedgehog added. "How about we continue later on huh? It's not much fun when we're run down. A fight to the finish is kinda of a reserved privilege for the bad guys, and you Metal ain't a bad guy. Well, not any more." He clicked his fingers. "Say, wanna come over to our place?" Metal looked sort of stunned by the question, his red eyes disappearing and re-appearing in a blink like action. Sonic forged a cruel looking smile. "Like you've got somewhere else to go."

* * *

The familiar feeling of air around him came flooding in and Fang forced himself to breath, spluttering desperate, collapsed to his knees and hands, breathing hard. Whatever had taken him receded and Fang was almost literally thrown back into the real world. He flung himself up to a sitting position, finding that every cut and bruise Espio had dealt him had somehow healed.

"Ah, Mr. Sniper, so good of you to drop in." Stated a voice as the Weasel looked around in utter astonishment at his new surroundings. He was in some sort of large chamber like room with a high arched ceiling, He'd been dumped on top of a long, vanished wooden table that spanned the room. Empty leather seats placed around it. At the far end, near a large window with the large red curtains pulled shut, a half filled with water had been placed. Someone was sitting in the chair there, staring directly at him. The rest of the room seemed hidden in the darkness produced by the curtains. Fang made his way to his feet rather unsteadily and he kept looking around for whatever had grabbed him and put him here.

"What the hell is this?" He demanded. "Where am I?" Whoever was sitting in the chair did not reply for a moment, instead he let the weasel stare around on confusion for a while.

"You know, despite your recent, humiliating defeat. You're still the best bounty hunter and assassin this planet had to offer." Fang looked his way, confusion plain in his eyes. He tried to edge closer to see who was speaking to him, but only managed a few inches for his shaken nerves stopped him.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, his voice more unstable.

"That is irrelevant." It replied. "What is however is the offer I'm proposing for you." The Weasel tried to tell himself that was all a dream, some bizarre fantasy. He was still in bed, suffering a nightmare. Suddenly some sort of subliminal idea kicked in and what the speaker had actually said registered.

"Offer?" He asked without shaking at all. The man chuckled slightly and placed his arms on the end of the table.

"I thought that might grab your attention." Talking business seemed to unlock Fang's sadistic side, so to him at that point it didn't matter exactly who or what he was talking to. "I am offering a very simple arrangement, one I know you can live by. You serve me and my cause now." Fang waited for several seconds before asking…

"And?"

"That is all. You will now serve me." The man replied, folding his arms. Fang stared at him, blinked once before asking again…

"What about payment?" The man was silent for a hostile moment, his eyes narrowing.

"You shall receive nothing of the sort." He snapped, almost angrily.

"No money? No deal, I bid you good day sir." Fang said with venom in reply. The gentlemen leaned forward in the chair, revealing his face. He was human, with short brown hair, dark tanned skin and strangely radiant green eyes.

"My dear Mr. Sniper. I believe you misunderstand the situation you are in. You see…" He began as the weasel turned to give him a look back over his shoulder. "You don't have any choice!" Without warning a green flare erupted from his eyes and Fang, former Chaotix member Nack the Weasel could only scream as his world vanished in a green haze.

* * *

(In Chris' voice.)

Metal Sonic on our side? This is nuts! But things are about to get a whole lot weirder. See what happens, next time at the Start of the Echidna Saga…Into the past we go! don't miss it!


	7. Episode 4, part 1

(I do not own Sonic, etc....)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO! GO! GO! GO! LET'S GO!

* * *

Echidna Saga

* * *

Episode 4: Into the past we go!

As Angel Island soured through the sea of clouds, Knuckles was quickly loosing his patience. Rouge had been here for a week now, and it seemed like she was making no plans to leave soon. In fact, it seemed like she was planning on an extended stay. So far, she had made absolutely no move on the Master Emerald, yet even so Knuckles was sleeping in shorter periods so he was watch over it more closely when she was around.

"Women!" He muttered angrily to himself as he rummaged through the thick forest of vines and moss, searching for fresh fallen fruits from the trees above, so far turning up little was that edible. Which it seemed made him even more aggravated. What was Rouge doing here, besides annoying him half to death? Perhaps the President wanted to keep an eye on the Master Emerald after Metal Sonic used it to transform into Metal Overlord, lest someone else like Eggman decided to get their hands on it. His choice of an agent for the job however seemed to suggest against it. Perhaps she was, as he'd suspected from the beginning, simply here to steal the Emerald for herself. He paused and shook his head. Admittedly, that wasn't very likely. Rouge may be a jewel fanatic, but even she couldn't possibly find any use for a gem the size of the Master Emerald. The fantastic power contained within it would attract too much unwanted attention to. So that said, what was Rouge doing here?

He gave up trying to guess and began concentrating on finding food. Strangely there wasn't much to forage for today, which seemed odd as he could have sworn there was plenty of food the day before. Eventually, after a long period of searching, the Echidna came across a fruit tree that still had some food on it's branches and began picking, only taking what he need for a single meal. He'd learned over the years that he had to watch how much he took, to use what the island could offer sparingly. It wasn't as if he could simply go somewhere else if the island ran out of food. He sat down on a rock that stretched out of the vine covered forest floor and three large fruits, native and common to Mobius, yet on Earth they might be considered alien and strange. As large as a mango, yet shaped like an Egg plant, it's skin a soft pink and yellow colour. He sank his teeth into one and began chewing. The flavour extremely sweet, making the tip of his tongue tingle.

"What took you so long?" Asked a voice as a sleek, streamlined shape dropped down the canopy, landing with effortless grace on the ground. Knuckles looked up, seeing Rouge as she walked over to him. As she sat next to him, he continued eating, ignoring her presence as best he could as she took one of the fruits for herself. "You know how starving I was?" She asked with playful anger. Knuckles could have gotten into another argument with her at that point, and he inclined to, however he knew it completely pointless. Rouge somehow managed to twist anything he said against him, and he still wasn't exactly sure how. "Nice place you got up here." She said after swallowing her first bite. "Yeah I could really learn to like it up here." Knuckles leanly chocking on his meal. "Oh don't be so stuck up. With a personality like that, you can certainly do with some company up here." The Echidna groaned out load.

"But I don't want any company!"

"And that's precisely your problem." She added coyly and before he could do anything to stop her, she kissed him on the cheek. Blushing, making his face turn even more red than it already was, Knuckles shoot to his feet, dropping the extra fruit in the process. He was about to walk forward very fast, making up some story about returning to the Master Emerald when it happened. When he took the first step, he found the ground beneath his feet wasn't solid. The vines were simply covering a hole as he put his whole weight upon it, they snapped as the Echidna went tumbling down through it. "KNUCKLES!" Rouge cried, already on her feet, staring at the hole in disbelief as she heard the Echidna' screaming voice cry out as he hit several hard objects on the way down. Without wasting a second she thrust her head down into the hole, finding only darkness, however her bat eyes were better suited to it, but in the complete pith black conditions all she could make out was a large underground chamber. The single shaft of light that came through the whole highlighting the Echidna's legs as he lay on the chamber floor.

"Owwww…" He managed to groan, pulling himself up, rubbing the back of his head. "Did someone get the number of that…" Before he could finish the pun however, he noticed exactly where he was. "Woah…" Was all he managed to finish his sentence with. Rouge flipped herself over and dropped down into the hidden chamber after him.

"Hey, are you ok?" She asked, helping the echidna to unsteady feet.

"Fine…" Knuckles replied, hardly paying any attention to her at all, his eyes fixed on a point directly in front of him. Rouge followed his gaze directly forward and now that she was down here she could see it, a titanic figure standing directly in front of him, arms spread wide. A pair of goat like horns spiralling out from the sides of it's head.

* * *

Tails and Amy screamed as Sonic, closely followed by Metal Sonic pushed their way up through the trap door that lead into Chuck's laboratory. It was already early morning by the time the two of them had arrived back at the Thorndyke Estate, re-tracing their steps several times to make sure any G.U.N agents who learned about Metal Sonic's escape from their truck would be going around in circles. Shadow, who had been sitting on the windowsill with crossed arms simply stared with wide eyes at the robotic hedgehog for a moment before sighing to himself and looking away.

"Woah woah woah guys!" Sonic said quickly as the two of them jumped behind Chuck, who had lost any perspective of the situation at all and was simply sitting in his chair with a confused look on his face. Chris, who had helped them tidy up the laboratory after the G.U.N robots made such a mess, was standing next to his grandfather with an equally puzzled look. "Everything's ok, he's cool guys, it's alright."

"Are you crazy?" Tails asked, poking his head out from behind the chair. "Him? Sonic, don't you remember what he nearly did a few months ago?"

"He's well aware of that." Shadow said simply with an angry sigh. "But you'll note by the various injuries each of them sustained, it's apparent that they worked out their differences." It was then that they all noticed the cuts and bruises on Sonic and the dents and scraps on his metallic copy. "Had a little rumble did you?" The black hedgehog asked with a cruel smile.

"So that's what you were doing all those hours." Amy stated angrily. "You had me worried!" Sonic gained a goofy smile, scratching the back of his head with one hand.

"None of you need concern yourselves about me." Metal Sonic said for himself. "I shall not be your enemy any more." They all stared at him for a silent, tense moment, but none of them moved.

"How the hell do you expect us to ever trust you?!" Tails asked. "You nearly destroyed the entire city." Metal Sonic was silent for a moment. "You're not even capable of remorse."

"Not true." The robot replied rather sharply. "While I hold little value for human life, I feel now my open war on their populace was a mistake."

"See?" Sonic butted in. "He's on the level guys, one of us now." Shadow push himself off the windowsill and walked straight up to Metal and stared him directly in the eye. There was another tense moment of silence ad the glare between them continued. Tails and Amy stared, holding their breath to see what would happen.

"That kick hurt." Shadow stated after a moment.

"Sorry." The robot replied and the black hedgehog gained a wide smile.

"Apology accepted." he replied as he turned back toward the window. "It's ok guys, Metal won't be trying to take over the world anymore." Tails blinked in confusion.

"He won't?"

"Don't see any point in it." Metal replied, placing his hands on his hips. It took several hours more of persuasion, but eventually Tails and Amy came out of hiding and actually managed to sit still without fidgeting in the robots company. Chuck, who decided to remain neutral in this argument busied himself by repairing the armour and limbs Metal Sonic had damaged during the fight. Metal simply sat on the table, letting the scientist work on him while the others, apart from Shadow who seemed reluctant to engage in any conversation whatsoever, talked amongst themselves.

"What happened to Fang?" Amy asked when the subject of the whole chaos in the city came up. Sonic grinned.

"Chaotix went off after him." He replied, leaning back into the chair, Amy had insisted on nearly tying him up in bandages after his cracked ribs and fractured arm had been discovered. Tails and Amy shot each other nervous glances that Sonic noticed. "I miss something?" The Two of them kept quite, preferring to keep the story Vector had told them about Fang and Mighty to themselves.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you'll ever help me resolve my little problem." Shadow began.

"Sorry dude, guess we left you hanging." Sonic replied. "So, go on, tell us the whole story." Shadow sighed angrily again before he related the story of how he was tailed by G.U.N vehicles for sometime, then attack by ghoulish cloaked figures.

"They claimed to be the financial backers of the Shadow project." Shadow added as Chuck look up from his repairs on Metal Sonic.

"They must have been lying to you Shadow, the backers of Pr. Gerald's research was the multi-million dollar corporation known as the Foundation. They're the ones current funding the Chao habitation and research program." Tails looked up.

"They were funders of project Shadow?"

"Sure, they've been around for that long. According to the business world when they first started out they were a military based company helping the army to create super-powerful weapons. It could be Project. Shadow was one of those."

"It wasn't meant to be." Shadow added sharply. Everyone, including Metal Sonic, looked his way. "Gerald had no intent of creating a monster for the use of war." He hesitated before continuing. "Maria was terminally ill with little to no hope of her living past her sixtieth birthday. Her grandfather wanted to create a creature that would have the power to heal her…… me." He looked down, unable to meet their gaze. "I never got the chance. Before I could be perfected, the military found up what Gerald was really up to and then…well we all know." There was a few minutes of silence, no one able to think of exactly what to say. Even Metal kept extremely quiet.

"I guess your memory came back then." Sonic eventually said, Shadow simply gave off an amused sigh, nodding his head once.

"Hey Tails." Sonic began as the fox turned to look at him. "I'm sorry." Tails blinked.

"For what?" The blue hedgehog sighed.

"It was me those bounty hunters were after, not you. They kidnapped you to get to me, if it hadn't been for me you wouldn't have been put through that nightmare." Tails smiled at him.

"It's ok Sonic. It wasn't your fault or nothing."

"I still feel pretty bad, ya know?"

Metal Sonic watched Chuck as he worked on him, remaining completely silent for the most part. Chuck was presently hidden behind a pair of thick, black goggles as he worked.

"You are Pr. Charles Thorndyke, the scientist that repaired me?" He asked. Chuck pause, pushing his goggle up over his eyes and onto his forehead.

"Yes." The scientist replied cautiously. The robot seemed to hesitate before turning away. Then he said something Chuck never expected to hear him say.

"Thank you." Before Chuck could reply, there was a loud beeping sound and everyone turned to look at Chuck's computer. The blinking light on the panels told them that there was an incoming message. Chris pressed a button on the panel, switching on the loud speaker com system.

"Thorndyke residents." He managed to say before someone cut him off.

"Is Sonic there? I need to speak with him." Shadow's eyes widened as he recognized the voice at once.

"Rouge?" He asked in surprise. There was stunned moment before the female voice replied.

"Shadow? What the heck are you doing there? Oh never mind, is Sonic there?" Sonic looked up.

"Yeah I'm here. That's the big deal?"

"Just get yourself and that Scientist friend of yours, Chuck, up to Angel Island on the double. I explain more once you get here." Without another word the line went dead.

"Well that was certainly weird." Amy stated as Sonic pushed himself to his feet.

* * *

Knuckles had never approved of visitors, for whatever reason, before. So finding him ready to meet them on the shores of the flying Angel Island was in itself a phenomenal event. Chris and Chuck had never been to Angel Island before and so were, for a few moments at least, caught off guard by it. Sonic had told them of the legendary flying Island of the Echidna people, kept floating by the power contained within the Master Emerald, yet little could have prepared them to actually see the actually landmass of the sky itself up close.

As the X-Tornado touched down on the edge of the island, Knuckles nearly had a heart-attack when he saw Metal Sonic sitting on the nose of the plane alongside his organic counterpart. It took twice as long as it did to convince him that Metal Sonic wasn't a bad guy any more than it had Tails and Amy.

As Shadow back flipped from the top of the tornado, landing squally on his feet, he found himself standing directly knew to the female bat herself. Who was staring at him with a very coy look.

"Do you know how much of a cow the President had when I didn't come back with you?" Shadow narrowed an eye.

"Too bad, I've no intention of going back."

"I wasn't asking you to." There was short moment of silence between them. "Good to see you."

"You too."

"So what's the big emergency Knucklehead?" Sonic asked as Knuckles, eventually, put his fists down in Metal Sonic's presence. The robot stood with his back to them, largely ignoring the Echidna's ravings. "Last time I checked Angel Island was official a **_no-tourists _**allowed destination, what you need us for?" The Echidna lead them all through the entangled jungle of angel island to where he and Rouge had been that morning, and to the partly concealed entrance to the chamber he had inadvertently blundered into. As soon as they lowered themselves through the small opening the ceiling, they were awe stuck by it's sheer size. Knuckles had put small burning blazers in various places to lit the interior, and it's true depth was revealed. It was like looking at the inside of a cathedral, with lancing pillars holding up a nearly collapsed ceiling, entwined with vines and other formers of creeper. As Chuck, with Metal Sonic's help, was lowered down into the chamber his jaw dropped.

"Astounding." He breathed, blinking several times as if he couldn't take it all in at once. "Archaeology isn't my field, but even so, I can see that this is remarkable." Knuckles, who had descended the pile of rubble that lead up to the hole in the ceiling, stood on the floor of the chamber, staring directly up a small, rectangular slab of rock placed upon a metallic pedestal directly in front of a collapsed construct that bore a resemblance to a shrine.

"I've been on Angel Island all my life, and I can tell you that there is nothing like this anywhere else on the island." He reached up and carefully took the slab, revealing it to have engraved writing on it. "The writing on this artefact isn't written in any Echidna language I know of. I'd like you to translate." The Echidna added, handing it to chuck, to gestured to Metal for a light source. The red glow from the robots eyes increased, illuminating the dark shadows of the underground colossal room. Chuck blinked in surprise as his eyes got a proper look at it.

"That's impossible." He muttered. "These are ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs."

"What dose that mean?" Chris asked Chuck sat down on the cold stone floor, placing the slab directly in front of himself.

"Angel Island is a land mass from Mobius, and yet here we have an artefact that could only have come from a civilisation that existed on Earth over five thousand years ago hidden inside it's depths." He paused, scratching his chin in puzzlement. "The odds of the ancient Egyptians and the lost civilisation of the Echidna's having exactly the same language are astronomically low."

Sonic, who had not been listening to a word any of them were saying, wandered the chamber trying to take in the details. It was then the large shape directly in the centre of the room caught his eyes. Turning and wandering up to it, he could see it was a statue of some kind.

"Who's big and ugly?" Sonic asked, looking up at it, putting his hands behind his back. Now that they had a better light source inside the chamber, the horrific demonic details on it became apparent. It was roughly humanoid, however a long tail swept from it's back, each side lined with curved spikes. Similar spikes ran along the outside of it's arms and legs, with four larger ones lancing out of it's back. It's hands and feet were cloven, with talons replacing the fingers and toes. It's face was hideous, with a skull like nose, large hollow eyes and insect like pincers where it's mouth should be. A pair of goat like horns curving out of each side of the head. It's body was completely made of muscle it seemed, able to put some of the body builders today to shame. It's sand stone base had runes carved into it's surface, all encircling the statue with artistic perfection. The gesture the statue seemed to be in was odd too. It's arms were outstretched, palms toward the sky, it's eyes gazing up at the sky lit sky above.

"That is Krish-kra-pal." Knuckles replied, looking back over his shoulder briefly toward it. "The god worshipped by my people eons ago." Sonic blinked, looked at the Echidna, then back to the statue.

"This thing?"

"Rather demonic looking isn't it?" Chuck added, briefly, scratching his chin as he stared at the tablet.

"Krish-kral…" Tails began, unable to pronounce it correct. "That's kind of a mouthful."

"It's his name in my people's ancient language." Knuckles explained. "Translated into English it means literally…all bend before him." Sonic gave an impressed whistle, putting his hands on his hips.

"I think I can translate this, it seems to be a religious text of some form." Chuck announced suddenly. "It speaks of the great Echidna Chieftain, Pachamac and his wars of expansion."

"And we all know what happened to him." Knuckles said. They had had all discovered for themselves some time ago what had happened long ago, when under Pachamac's direction the Echidna army marched on the Chaos Shrine, attempting to claim the Chaos Emeralds and their fantastic power as their own. And it was then that the mad guardian Chaos rose up and utterly destroyed them, but he didn't stop there. He absorbed the Chaos emeralds into his being and used their fantastic power to swallow up the entire Echidna civilisation. If it had not been for the courageous actions of the Chieftain's daughter, Tikal, Chaos would have destroyed the entire world in a blind rage. She sacrificed herself, entrapping both Chaos and her own soul within the Master Emerald. Bond for over 8000 years, until Doctor. Eggman learned of Chaos' existence and in a bid to take over Station Square.

"Well, we didn't know this." Chuck added, his finger tracing over the hieroglyphs. "Apparently, Pachamac was guided by Krish-Kral-Pal's High Priest on his destructive path. It seemed their entire religion was based on war and death."

"That was basically the teachings of Krish." Knuckles sighed. "From what I already know, He was a god of War and the Echidna High Priests were utterly devoted to serving his will. From documents I recovered from other ruins, it seemed to suggest that the Priests got their orders from Krish himself." Chuckled paused for a single moment.

"I find that highly unlikely, what's more plausible is that these High Priests are the true source behind the Ancient Echidna's love of conquest. They may have invented Krish to inspire people to them." Knuckles sniffed through his nose almost in protest at the comment and sat down on a stone slab, crossing his arms. "But is goes on to say, that part of their civilisation managed to survive the destruction of their empire, going on to…hold one a second…this part is hard to translate." Chuck narrowed his eyes, straining to read it. "To build a gateway to lead them back to their greatness." There was silence for a moment.

"And?" Knuckles asked.

"Nothing, that's it."

"Hey, over here." Metal Sonic called up, catching everyone's attention. The robotic hedgehog was crouching beside a collapsed stone pillar and a pile of rubble that had stacked itself against the wall. A mess of vines had snaked down from the holes above and covered the wall, keeping it completely obscured.

"What is it?" Sonic asked, walking over. Metal Sonic was studying the floor just underneath the collapsed masonry.

"There's air passing through here." The robot replied, directing the blue hedgehogs attention to a small hole between a collapsed section of wall and an overturned pillar. "And my sensors tell me there's a hollow cavity just a few feet beyond." Chuck pushed his way to his feet, putting a pencil and notebook he was using to scribble notes back into his pocket.

"Another chamber?" He asked, seeing if there was nose wide enough to look through. There were a few, but the space beyond was too dark to see into.

"Possibly." Metal replied as he stood back up, raising his hand toward it. Chuck realized exactly what he had planned and jumped in, alarmed.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, pushing the robots hand down. "Hold on there! We can't be sure of the chambers stability, you could risk destroying what may be inside if you blast your way in, or worse you could bring the roof down on top of us." Faced with those options, Metal lowered his arm. "Let's try removing the rubble, nice and _slow_." Sonic cringed, hearing his least favourite word. It took another hour, but eventually they managed to dig a hole wide enough for Tails, followed by Chris to squeeze through, finding that were was indeed another chamber just beyond it. Metal Sonic quickly followed to allow them light inside the concealed room.

"WOAH!!!" Came the extreme exclamation from Chris on the other side.

"What's going on in there?" Sonic shouted through the hole, trying to stare into the thick of the gloom but could only make out the back of Metal Sonic's legs.

"This amazing!" Tails replied. "Get through here guys, you have to see this." Once they'd widened the hole large enough, the rest of them quickly followed. Compared to the colossal chamber outside, this one was by far smaller, but it's size was not the thing that interested them at once. At the far side of the room, revealed by the glow from Metal's eyes was an oval shaped edifice. It looked like it was made out of stone, but gleamed brightly like newly polished metal surface.

"What the heck is that?" Sonic asked as Chuck cautiously approached. The entire room seemed to served around directly to it, as it the wall was being sucked directly to a point behind it. Whatever this thing was for, it was clearly significant.

"I don't know." Chuck admitted. It seemed to be, and this is rough guess mind you, a door."

"Door?" Shadow repeated in confusion, looking at it himself with sceptical eyes. "Don't look like no door I've ever seen."

"Doesn't actually look like any door I've seen either." Chuck added, finding a short flight of stone steps leading up to it. "I'm not even sure what it's built out of. Let's go back outside before we damage anything impo…" Before he could finish his sentence, his foot pressed down on some sort of hidden level and the entire chamber groaned, literally groaned for all it was worth, the distant sound of thunder rolling in the background. The circle before them glared bright yellow for a spilt second, before their entire vision as engulfed by a blinding white light.

"What the heck was that?" Amy asked, rubbing her eyes, then suddenly becoming aware of a massive decrease in their numbers. "Sonic, Knuckles, Chuck, Chris, Tails?"

"I'm over here." Tails replied, pushing himself off the cold floor having fallen over in the confusion. "But no body else is." The glow from Metal's eyes had vanished, engulfing them in darkness, and so had the robot himself. All of them, apart from the two standing alone in the ancient chamber, had completely vanished.

* * *

"Shadow, get off my back!" Sonic exclaimed sharply pushing the ultimate life form off his quills with a sudden shove. Chuck pushed himself to his feet and began to dust himself off, but found a sudden flare of sunlight catching his eyes. Reality now kicking in, he discovered himself no longer inside an ancient chamber in Angel Island, but rather standing in the middle of grassy feign. The grass long enough to reach his waist. The distant outline of tall, snow capped mountains seemingly the only border this massive field had to his fright, and to the left a thick jungle curved down a hill that rose up out of the ground in front, preventing view of whatever distant place lay ahead. Shadow, blinking his utter surprise, stuck his head above the tall grass.

"What was that?" He asked, voicing the first question on everyone's lips.

"And how did we get here?" Knuckles added, voicing the second question. Metal Sonic rose causally off the ground, running a system diagnostic of his systems while the other pulled themselves together.

"Never mind that." Rouge began as he dusted herself off, her eyes narrowed in severe irritation. "I want to know just where HERE is."

"My systems must have been damaged." Metal Sonic muttered, although he was acutely aware no one was listening. "My cryonic register is telling me the current time is 11:09 AM, January 5th, 3444-BC." Chuck, as Chris rose himself, rubbing the back of his head, trudged his way through the long grass toward the top of the hill, hoping to get a better view of his surroundings.

"Hey, just where are Tails and Amy?" The human scientist pause to catch his breath once he reached the hills apex, then looked up to see a sight that both shocked the amazed him at the same time.

"I think you people should see this." He declared loudly, gesturing to the rest of them to follow him, his lab coat flapping in a sudden cold wind. They quickly followed him, Metal Sonic waiting several seconds before doing so. Once they reached his side, they could see what he was looking at. Below was a valley that seemed to stretch on for miles, mostly filled with a lush, never ending green jungle. Just before them however, sitting directly on a river was an ancient city. And it was a city they all new, for Tikal the spirit of the Master Emerald had granted them visions of this place when Chaos had been released to do Eggman's bidding. This was the capital of the Echidna Empire, the beautiful walled city Perfect Chaos had destroyed eons ago, standing there before them as if the disaster had never occurred.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Knuckles

Age: 17

Species: Echidna

Job Description: Guardian of Angel Island and the Master Emerald.


	8. Episode 4, part 2

* * *

(I do not own Sonic X, etc. Sorry this chapters rather short compared to the others.)

* * *

Flip card 2:

Name: Tikal

Age: 16

Species: Echidna

Sex; Female

Job description: The daughter of the Echidna Chieftain of war.

* * *

"This is…amazing." Chuck breathed as their small group sat on the top of the hill, staring down at the city far below them. A few flying creature, of a kind none of them had ever seen before flew overhead.

"You call this amazing? I call this down right weird." Sonic snapped back. "Just where or rather, WHEN are we? And how the flying $&£% did we get here?!" Chuck ignored the blue hedgehogs cursing and put his finger and thumb to his chin, trying to think as he lay back in the tall grass, nearly hiding himself from view if it weren't for his brightly coloured slippers. Chris sat nearby, his arms folded upon his knees. He wasn't just looking at the city, he was looking at everything around him, seeing plainly how beauty it was. If that was indeed the capital of the Echidna Empire below them, then they were on Mobius, the world Sonic was originally from, as it was before it merged with Earth. He could see just how better it was than Earth, and began to appreciate just how much of an blessing it's union for the over-populated and polluted Earth actually was.

"Time travel." Chuck muttered to himself. The notion was absurd enough, but to find it was not only possible by achievable by ancient civilisations. However, the big question was not _how_ but rather _why. _Why had the survivors of the Echidna empire been compelled to create a worm hole leading into the past of their own civilisation? Surely they realized they risked altering the trail of history, unless of course that was the point. He looked up, realization lit up in his eyes.

That was it! They must have created the time warp to carry them back to the past, and then prevent Perfect Chaos from destroying their empire. That had to be the answer, however, if that was so, why hadn't they been successful in altering the events? It's not as if their time machine was defective, it certainly delivered them into Mobius' ancient history. Something must have gone wrong, some cataclysmic if they abandoned their chance to restore their imperial might.

"We have company." Shadow announced loudly as he stared down the hill, his statement snapping Chuck out of his trail of thought. Coming up the cliff by way of a narrow path were several black dots, but everything moving from this height appeared to be black dots. What they could only be were people, not only that but they were heading towards them. Shadow could see them far more clearly than the others, he was the ultimate lifework after all. Even from this distance, he could make out the dreadlocks and long arms that identified them as Echidnas. He could also see the spears they carried. It would seem that, despite the scepticism amongst their group, they had travelled into the past. "I suggest, that for the moment at least, we avoid an un-necessary confrontation. These Echidna's may be the only people who can get us back to the present." Knuckles hadn't been listening to a single word any of them had been saying whatsoever. He had never seen other Echidna's before, not once, so now staring down at the city teaming with them was affecting him far more than he might expect. Here, were his own people, possible years before Perfect Chaos would rise up to destroy them all. This could very well be a chance, he realized in a sudden flash, his chance, to save them. He had knowledge on his side, he knew what fate awaited them. Armed with that information, he just might be able to stop them invading the holy Chaos Shrine before it happened.

"Wise strategy." Metal Sonic agreed, looking down upon the Ehidna solider as they neared, slowly climbing up toward them. "But I'd rather not hang around for to long, if they insist we stay for a while at least."

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever." Sonic butted in, who found thinking before acting unbelievably boring. "Play along with whatever Knucklehead's long lost relatives want, got it."

* * *

They were ready. Tikal could plainly see that as he gazed out of the window from the temple towards the city below. Very soon the event she had tried so hard to prevent would happen, and soon. The Echidna girl put her hands in her head, desperately trying to think of something. Anything, that could prove productive, but she found that she had tried everything within her own power already. The High Priests were not exactly happy that she was meddling in their affairs, in fact had it not been for the fact that she was the daughter of the Chieftain she would have been executed for hersay ages ago. Agh those damn priests! She rolled over onto the pillows of her bed and stared up at the ceiling. There was a loud knocking on the door of her private chambers, which itself was not overly large, only a simple small room with a bed, a large open window that opened out onto a balcony and a silk vale hanging from the roof, and before Tikal could give whoever it was permission to enter, her father, the chieftain Pachamac pushed the door open with a solid shove. He was tall for their species, with short brown fur and large shaggy eyebrows above a pair of staring eyes. In his left hand he held the Staff of Ruling, which in truth was more of a spear than a staff, but that's not the point of it.

"Tikal, Mishoal had asked me to speak with you." His daughter paid the statement little notice, rolled over and stared out of the window again. "He is concerned your faith in the almighty is…" He hesitated for a moment. "Less than absolute." She didn't reply to that, which in the long run was probably the more sensible. Whatever she said would work to her disadvantage. Her father pressed his lips together, trying to think of what to add. Regrettably, he had been commanding the Echidna's armies most of her youth and had only returned to the grand city in fleetingly small periods, each time his only child seemed more and more alien to him. It was a sad thing, but he had done is duty to their deity, and all together that was the only thin that was important. "Ah Tikal, I do not understand you!" He admitted, throwing his arms up in the air. "I see glory in our crusade, but you see only death and destruction." Tikal turned her eye so she was war able to give him the smallest look back over her shoulder. "The destruction of our enemies my child, is no sin."

"And why are they our enemies to begin with?" She asked, finally breaking the silence on her part. "They never did anything to us, we were the ones who struck first." Her father narrowed his eyebrows and corrected his posture to that a leader should always take.

"I'll not explain nor try to understand the will of Krish-Kra-Pal." He said with fierce determination. "He is all, everything and Omnipresent and we do his bidding without question. Those who do not, suffer eternal torment. I hope that is understandable because if you continue this course of action…." Before he could finish, an Echidna guard clad in black robes with red outlines followed him into the room, breathing hard for a moment before he spoke.

"Sorry to disturb you my lord, but many strangers were sighted on the city borders by our patrols, all but one of them are Outlanders." Pachamac was silent for a spilt second before turning.

"Where are they know?" He asked, one eye narrowing.

"Being taken to be judged by the High priest before execution is dealt sir." The old Echidna muttered something unbearable under his breath before turning back to his daughter, his eyes glaring with steely determination.

"We'll continue this conversation when I get back."

Standing directly in the centre of the Echidna capital, was the Cathedral, a massive fortress to which the Priests of the One referred to as home. This building was the first to be constructed when the city was built, other constructions being build radiating around it later. The Cathedral was a massive, pyramid, separated into several layers, each thicker than the other going down. All of them had been painstakingly carved with snakes and Eastern style Dragons, the two chosen beasts of the One. Most of the traps inside the Catherdral itself involved snakes, although Dragons, which not surprisingly where much harder to come by, were not employed in it's traps, although it was rumoured that the High Priest, Mishoal had one tucked away inside one of his secret chambers.

Chuck hadn't much time to admire the architecture as the small company of Echidna's forced them up the long flight of stairs and through the great, snake head entrance. Knuckles was in complete shock the whole time, he was actually inside a city of Echidna's, his own people. The city itself was magnificent, the ruins on Angel Island, while themselves were impressive were only a shadowy reflection of this vast accomplishment. This only deepened his resolve, he had to save them know.

"Not friendly folk are they?" Rouge asked, expecting little in an answer realizing that as they were forced through the streets at spear point, the ordinary Echidna people stopped to stare at them, their faces plainly showing their disgust. Some actually picked up a few stones from the street and tossed them at them. Most of them were intensely relieved to be pushed through the doors, away from the jeering crowds and have the large doors slam behind them.

The Cathedral's interior was as delicately carved as the outside. Every wall, ceiling and floor had been decorated with murals depicting the history of the Echidna Empire. Chuck glanced down to try and decipher these images and saw as he came through a large archway,. The birth of their civilisation. How primitive savages, living in caves, were dragged (Evidentially by force), away from their ancestral homes to become servants of Krish-KraPal, or as they called him, the One.

"You are trespassers within the confines of our holy city." An Echidna, apparently one in charge, wearing black and red robes like the others, but with two golden bracelets strapped to each dreadlock. His fur a muddy brown yet it eyes, which surprised most of them, were a starling blood red. He was accompanied by several other guards, although these ones were dressed in completely black robes, their faces hidden behind hoods. Shadow froze, recognizing the symbol on the front of their clothes. A Chinese Dragon, an exact copy of the tattoo one of his assailants. Before he could actually say anything however, their leader cut him off. "Have you "People…" anything to say before I pass sentence?"

"And just who are you?" Sonic asked rudely before any of his friends could stop him from saying something he shouldn't. All the guards and priests inside the grand chamber looked startled by the question, none more so than the Echidna in question.

"I am Mishoal, High Priest of the One Faith." He snapped, sounding rather angry. It was then that a quick plan flew together in Chuck's head. It was pieced together, but it was the only way to avoid a fight.

"Forgive our intrusion…" He quickly stammered bowing his head, earning him strange glares from the rest of the group, before Metal Sonic and Shadow quickly got the idea and followed his example. "But we seven gathered here by intrusion of the one. He gave us all visions in our dreams, telling us to seek his holy city."

"Say what?" Sonic began, before a kick from Shadow silenced him. Mishoal hesitated, uncertainty quickly filling his eyes.

"We come here to honour the twilight of his great empire on Mobius, and witness it's triumphant conquest over the land." Metal Sonic continued. Their strategy was simply a form of flattery, which it seemed was working beautifully.

"Pilgrims?" He asked himself, looking rather detached, before quickly adding.. "How do I know you are not spies sent by the un-believers to subvert our quest to bring the word of the One to all on Mobius?" There was a moment of great anxiety amongst them.

"We give you our word, and that of the one divine." Shadow added quickly before the situation could spiral out of control. The High priest was silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing, before nodding and gesturing to the guards behind them.

"Take them to a private chamber."

* * *

"Ok, pray tell, what the heck was the point of that?! Sonic demanded once the Echidna guards left them alone, inside a small room with a low ceiling which had just about enough room for them to walk around in, if Metal Sonic remained perfectly stationary that is.

"The point, was to avoid a fight, giving ourselves time to come up with a plan." Chuck explained, walking back and forth from wall to wall, his hand on his chin, trying to think of something desperately.

"If there was a time machine in the present, then isn't it possible that the Echidna's that created it had to have a return ticket." Chris asked, sitting on one of the small straw beds next to Rouge. Chuck stood still and smacked a fist into his palm.

"Yes! It stand's to reason, good thinking Chris!" His eyes lit up. "They must have a machine that would take them back to the present time, hidden somewhere in the city." Shadow stood there, leaning against the wall near the entrance to the small balcony, looking unimpressed.

"And how do you suggest we go about looking for it? This city's a big place, they could have stashed it anywhere. And it's not as if we can simply go outside and look for it, not in this city at least." Chuck's happy face disappeared and he slumped down to a wooden chair against the side of one of the beds.

"Good point." He added reluctantly. "Oh this whole plan I'm trying to put together based on guess' and theories. Time travel is supposed to be a scientific impossibility!"

"Well it's not." Shadow put in. "If he went one way, we can certainly go back."

"Hey knucklehead, you ok?" Rouge asked, joining the red Echidna outside on the balcony. "You've been quite since we got here." Knuckles simply gave her a sideways glare past his shoulder for a single moment before turning his attention right back to the city below.

"They're my people Rouge. And I know exactly what's going to happen to them if they continue down this path." He put his hand onto the stone railing, narrowing his eyes. "I've got to save them."

"What we have to be careful of is if that high priest guy we told that whopper to figures out what's relaly going on, then we're in trouble." Chris added.

"So what? We ran circles around that guy." Sonic stated confidently, rubbing the back of his fingers against his chest. "It's our word against that against a god that doesn't even exist. How's he going to find out we lied anyway?"

* * *

The grand summoning chamber was hidden deep below the Cathedral, accessible only through the catacomb vaults, were few dared to venture. It was a chamber few were pillaged to know about. The entrance, hidden behind an underground alter, slid to one side as Mishoal entered the grand chamber alone. The room was not long, but rather had an extremely high ceiling. Stone arches curving out from six pillars standing in equal distance around the outside of the room. Standing directly in the centre of the room was another statue of the One. Only this one was unique, it was made completely out of a strange metal they mined out of the cliffs not far from the city. It's surface was a glistening black and had been carved with artistic precision were runes of the Echidna language and hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt.

Mishoal lowered himself to his knees, placing his palms upon the floor, flowering his head as far as he could in the statues presence. The very air in the chamber seemed to grow still like fumes, gently parting around the out-stretched claws on the metal edifice. Krish-Kra-Pal, the god of their people, a god not just of war, but of death and disease, whose grisly punishments and inventions were inflicted upon the vanquished and defeated.

"Divinity, speak to me, and give me guidance." He almost whispered, his face so close to the ground he could have kissed it. For a single moment, everything in his room seemed to vibrate. The statue before him almost groaned in reluctance as some alien force took up residence within it's metal body.

"I have told you before mortal, do not summon my presence unless I desire it first." The booming voice came from every direction, and it's impact upon the Echidna's mind caused him to loose his balance, knocking him to the floor. **"You forget your place too often."**

"Please forgive me my lord, but I do require your counsel." Mishoal managed to stutter, his body convulsing in pain. Fat beads of sweat running down his forehead.

"Speak quickly and do not try my patience." The booming voice, echoing many times upon itself snapped, it's force causing the Echidna's attempt at pulling himself up to fail. It was like some invisible force was continuingly smashing a sledgehammer against his brain, and it was taking every ounce of willpower Mishoal had to not scream out in pain.

"Seven strangers….were brought to me today. They claim to have been given a vision…from you great one. I wish to this claim to be verified." Whatever held him in it's iron grip shuddered, making the entire room shake, dust and a few bits of stone fell from the ceiling.

"I gave no such…" It paused and the it realized it's stranglehold on Mishoal's mind, letting him kneel in it's presence without constant, near unbearable pain. **"Ah, he is here. Strange, this outcome I did not foresee. He is centuries early, but no matter. He will be mine in any century. Listen well Mortal, this is your chance to serve me well." **Mishoal scrabbled to his knee, humbling himself before the great statue.

"I live to serve you my lord."

"Dispose of the six as you see fit, however do not harm the black and red one. Bring him to me, have him stand before my alter within the great hall. Now go, do this and you shall have my favour." As quickly as it had overcome him, as did it disappear. Leaving everything as silent as it had been only moments ago.

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

What the heck is going on? Time travel, ancient evil gods? Oh well, some old same old for Sonic. But things are beginning to get out of hand, see what happens next time on Sonic X, **Chaos at the Shrine of Chaos**! Don't miss it!

* * *


	9. Episode 5, part 1

(In regard to the 26 new episodes of Sonic X, supposedly happening, soon. Several points must be raised…one being, and I really don't want to say this but…do we really want to see more, even if there is a new SH saga in them? Sonic X, the original, had bad animation, poor storylines and a bog standard ending. Unless there is a radical overhaul in the animation, to the level of Shaman king or the first Sonic anime, it won't be worth it really. Secondly, the ending in the 52'd episode was ominous, leaving absolutely no room for continuation. It would be hard, or impossible to build on it, which if why I cut into the **_Sonic X down hill spiral _**after the Battle saga to save it in my Sonic X heroes adaptation fic. Hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we will see those episodes, _(and without Chris by the looks of it. YIPPIE!)_

_

* * *

_

(_Sorry that this a short chapter)_

SONIC GO!

* * *

SONIC. GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

Episode 5: Chaos at the Shrine of Chaos

* * *

The rain spitting itself at his cheeks, the young red echidna just keep running, ignoring the attempts the long jungle grass below and the vines above made to try and keep a hold of him. Before and after, the two continuality blurred, becoming one terrifying whole as he kept running. Fear, intense fear kept him looking back, knowing always that those horrifying red eyes were following him, terrible danger not far behind them. All the time, a horrible laughter could be heard vibrating through the air as the child made it's attempts to get away. Tears stinging his eyes, the young boy tripped, stumbling forward, his vision blurred into a mixed haze of green as he fell.

It was some time before he opened his eyes, and to his surprise the red eyes had gone, all seemed quiet and still. As he pushed himself up, he became aware that he was standing in front of a large stone platform with a flight of vine covered stairs leading up to it. From the top of this came a warm, inviting green glow, a soft almost musical hum in the air. Like a moth, some force attracted him up the stairs, tripping only once on a vine as he climbed. It must have been teen solid minutes before he moved, decapitated at the sight of the giant jewel in front of him. It spoke with the music, it's voice as gentle as that was a caring mother. Without hesitation, he stretched his hand out to touch yet and in that moment, all that was good around him evaporated at the red glaring eyes returned. The boy didn't even have time to scream as the darkness swallowed him within a single moment.

* * *

Knuckles' shot right up in bed, sweat running down his forehead and over his dreadlocks, breathing hard, his eyes staring his horror. A shiver creeping up and down his spine. That dream again, it had been haunting him a lot lately. Those red eyes, even now that he was awake he couldn't even image them in his mind, they were too horrifying. He put a palm to his head, trying to calm his breathing. As memories came back after his unsettled sleep came back, he remembered exactly where he was and what he had to do. A simple nightmare, that's all it was, brushing it off as best he could he began to realize the depth of the task that lay ahead.

"Bad dream?" Asked a feminine voice as he pushed himself of the rather uncomfortable stone bed, finding the room empty apart from Rouge and himself, and Chuck of course, who was still asleep in his bed in the corner, snoring loudly. Everyone else had gone. Rouge had one of the black and red robes that the Priest's servants had brought them that morning. Sonic, who would never be caught dead in it, disappeared out the window with Shadow and Metal Sonic to explore the city to see if they could find the time ring that could send them back to the present. Chris had gone out to see if he could learn anything here. "Care to talk about it red?" She added back over her shoulder. Knuckles narrowed his eyes.

"I think not." He replied flatly, standing up and stretched his long arms. Rouge smiled coyly at him.

"That Priest we meet was here before you woke up, it seems we're all to gather at some inner chamber for some kind of ritual at noon." She turned back to look at the ugly robes, a contempt-full look on her face. "Since that god of theirs is one of war, I think it'd be wish to skip the service." Knuckles wasn't paying any attention, he was too busy putting on of those robes around this shoulders. "You're not serious!" Rouge

"That service may be my only chance to tell all my people what will happen if they invade the Chaos Shrine."

"Oh, and I suppose they're going to believe you when you tell them you're from the future?" She added coyly, Knuckles simply gave her a long hard stare. "Get real red, that sounds crazy even to me I know it's all true." Knuckles growled and clenched his fists by his sides.

"I still have to try." He managed to grumble.

* * *

It was still early enough for the streets of the Echidna capital to be nearly empty and it was almost perfect conditions for racing. Metal Sonic was in the lead currently, taking full advantage of his three jet engines. Shadow and Sonic were joint for second, trying desperately to outdo each other and catch up with the robotic hedgehog. Shadow, sliding to the right overtook Metal, speeding into the lead, leaving just enough time to give Sonic a cocky look back over his shoulder. Returning the smirk, Sonic's speed increased in a sudden blast, overtaking the both of them with ease.

"How the hell did he do that?" Shadow asked himself in amazement, before speeding up, skating after him. Metal Sonic, who had no intention of being last I this small contest, increased in engine output by 10, coming up jointly alongside Sonic and Shadow. Racing without a care between the three of them, it was almost exciting. Heck, scratch that, it was exciting. The three of them were equals and while each one had every intention of trying to outdo the other, there was a sort of comradeship that bound them all.

The city was a lot larger than any of them had first realized, they'd been racing the long streets between the sand stone houses looking for the supposedly hidden time ring, or somewhere large enough to hide it for over an hour now and they'd covered half the city yet.

Shadow shot into the lead, sliding around Sonic, the jets on the soles of his feet blaring at full blast. Sonic trying his best to keep up, knowing that Shadow's skating technique, while it allowed him to go faster, did not allow him to traverse ninety degree turns too well.

Sonic himself could manage tight corner turns with ease, which gave him a slight edge while the three of them ducked and served through the narrow streets.

Metal Sonic had a balanced propulsion system, that didn't go all out in one degree or another. He could accelerate to fantastic speed, and manage corners, to a certain speed level.

"Company HALT!" Sonic suddenly yelled, slamming on the brakes, come to a screeching halt. Shadow and Metal Sonic followed suite, all of them skidding to a stop in the middle of a side street behind one of the sand stone houses, littered with broken pieces of pots and wooden planks. "Look…" The blue hedgehog added, poking his head out from behind the corner. Most of the main street was still empty apart from a single Echidna girl running down it, looking back over her shoulder now and tell to see if she was being followed.

"Hey…" Shadow began, his eyes widening. He'd seen her before, during the transformation both he and Sonic had been through to merge into Nazo, she had been there, with his Maria, helping them to fuse into one being.

"Tikal." Sonic muttered to himself as the echidna girl ran past, oblivious to their hidden position. The girl who'd sacrificed her freedom, entrapping herself and the water demon Chaos inside the Master Emerald for over eight thousand years. "Weird, seeing her again." He added, staring after her for a moment. Tikal was heading for the western gates of the city, a large stone entrance that lead into the cliff face, the large carved tunnel leading outside the city limits.

"She may know the location of the second time ring." Metal Sonic put in. Sonic looked back with an amused look on his face.

"Doubtful."

"It's the best lead we've had today." Shadow put in. "Look, I'll follow her and see where she's going. The two of you clowns keep searching the city, we'll meet back at that big Cathedral place at lunch time." Sonic's stomach grumbled.

"Thanks a lot Shadow, you reminded me I missed breakfast." He snapped, before racing of, Metal Sonic following lonely behind. Shadow paused for a moment, shook his head and then stared after Tikal, who by now was nearly out of sight. Without a moments hesitation, Shadow slid silently out from his hiding place and leapt up onto the flat roofs of the houses, easily catching up with the Echidna girl, keeping himself well out of sight as he followed her.

* * *

The Egg Moon, Present:

Dr. Eggman was one to learn from his mistakes, and with these new line of machines, he was certain he had done just that.

"Activate, E 1000 series!" The word commands was received through the verbal and the four newest additions to the Eggman Empire's elite troops came on line. Each one varied in size, the largest being the size of a coach and the smallest being no higher than Cream. One their metallic chest plates were printed their codenames,

E1001: Omicron, the largest of the four still lay in it's activation chamber, wires and cables gently hanging out from it's shoulders and legs, data still being feed into it's memory banks. Each arm was the size of a limousine, rounded, with lancing spikes on each knuckle. It's eyes blinked once and started to glow green.

E1002: Sigma, Not as large as Omicron, but large none the less, this model had been designed to resemble the human anatomy, a large jet pack strapped to it's back, and a long blade curving down the top of it's left arm.

E1003: Tau was far different from the others, with tank like treads instead of legs and a pair of missile launchers for arms. Despite the cumbersome appearance, it was design to be capable to decimating a small number of G.U.N robots.

E1004: Thetha, the final one of his new series was a real scorcher. Built into each arm was a flame thrower, especially designed for battle, capable of burning a small forest to the ground in a matter of seconds. Eggman grinned to himself, crossing his arms behind his back. These new models were by far superior to the now, outdated, E100 design. They were faster, stronger, smarter. They made everything else in his army look completely obsolete. He could hardly wait to put these new robots to the test. But these were not the only edition to this only other size incredible forces that he was proud of.

"Impressive designs doctor." Decoe commented, standing beside his contour part Becoe.

"Yes I really have outdone myself haven't I?" Eggman replied, smiling evilly as he rubbing the back of his finger on his red jacket. "These new designs will be able to take care of those pathetic military contraptions without too much trouble."

"That said." Becoe began hesitantly. "That still leaves a large problem." Eggman was silent for a moment, slowly he put his arms behind his back. "One that's been bothering you for years." Expectedly, Eggman began laughing evilly before he turned to face them.

"Which is why I built this fifth robot to deal with that problem." There was a loud thump from above their head and a swift, agile shape swept out of the darkness, leaping to the floor, before straitening up to it's full height. The two hence-bots took a step back as this new robotic solider stared at them. It was the size of the average mobian, with raven black metal skin, golden triangular armour attached to it's knees and elbows. Two red eyes sat directly in the middle of it's face, and directly above them was a third, blue eye encased in a small metal dome. "Meet the Gizoid mkII. A masterpiece of robotic engineering, even if I do say so myself." Eggman added, circling this new arrival with a finger and thumb on his chin. "I've already loaded Metal Sonic's copied data back up file into his self integration system, making it as strong as that traitor was before he turned against me."

"Another Emerl?" Decoe asked in surprise, Eggman wagged a finger at him.

"Not an Emerl precisely, but rather the next generation of Data coping Androids. Far more advanced than his predecessor ever was. Care for a demonstration?"

"Ah, that won't be necessary doctor." The robot replied quickly, backing off to a safe distance. "I'll take your word for it."

"So where is the first target?" Becoe asked, already looking over the holographic dimension projection of the Earth had hung above a large mechanical doom, it's base riddled with wires and cables. "Will it be Station Square again, or one of the other word capitals?" Eggman crossed over to it, glaring at the globe.

"First of all, we need a base of operations on the planet's surface we can operate from. Somewhere that can easily be defended, somewhere like…" He let his finger trail upward. "Here." He finished, pointing directly toward the middle of the European continuant. "Surrounded by sea on nearly all sides, limiting the possibility of a land attack." He turned to give Become a glare. "Are my forces ready?"

"Aye sir, we just have to wait two more days for the moon's orbit to put us into position."

"Excellent, we launch as soon as possible. I'll be leading the attack myself."

* * *

Tikal was the one who exactly knew the way through the jungle to the Shrine, well past their borders. Well, the only safe way at least. She just couldn't understand her people's devotion to that…demon. It was leading their people down a path of hatred and violence that would destroy them, she was sure of it. As she approached the Shrine, standing on the other side of the bridge, she could hear the soft serenade of the Chao. She paused for a moment to listen to it's soft sound, before crossing the bridge, the stream before trickling down into the river a little further south.

She was unaware that Shadow was following her of course, the black hedgehog was a near expert on remaining hidden. Whether or not that was a skill built into him by Prof. Gerald was debatable. Still, when he saw the shrine he stopped in stared in awe for a moment. This was the same shrine he'd seen during the Nazo merger. What sort of game was this? What was going on? Why had he seen this? Intrigued, he kept following Tikal over the bridge and up the hill toward the shrine. A small swarm of chaos, their pink wings flapping widely, floated around the stone pillars, singing to themselves. Some of them, as they saw the girl approach, flying down to circle around her happily. Shadow positioned himself behind a pillar and watched.

"Hello there." Tikal said cheerfully, stroking the Chao around the back of it's head. The Chao gave a toothy smile, before flying up to join it's own kind. In Shadow's opinion, Chao were about the most pointless animals in existence. They had no natural defences, no basic survival extinct and were amazingly fragile. It was a miracle on their behalf they hadn't become extinct eons ago.

Shadow looked stunned as the ring of water around the shrine reared itself up, as if it had suddenly taken on a life of it's own. As the water became a pillar, two arms with cloven hands sprouted out the side, sludgy, fish like head slowly coming into shape. The water itself shimmered and directly in the middle of this head, a brain, with a spinal cord leading down it's back came into view. Two emerald green eyes sitting as the only marking on it's other wise, barren face, flared upward, staring down at the girl, who stood confidently before it, while the Ultimate Life-Form behind her had near knocking knees.

"I don't know what to do Chaos." Tikal admitted wearily as the water like beast hauled itself up, the singular pillar of water becoming legs. "They won't listen to me, they're too devoted." Chaos, the water demon stood directly in front of her and said nothing. Shadow wasn't sure if it was capable of speech. "My father flatly refuses to even speak with me about it. He'll be coming here tomorrow from the emeralds." Suddenly realizing their presence, Shadow looked up toward the seven pillars standing around the outside of the shrine. On the top of each one was a Chaos Emerald, and directly in the centre, at the top of a shrine, was the Master Emerald itself. "I've done all I can." The creature stared at her silently for a few moments, before crossing over to the steps that lead up to the top of the shrine and sat down. "You're not going to wait here for them are you." Tikal asked in what seemed like utter surprise. "Please, your people must leave before…" Before she could finish her sentence, the Chaos creature reared it's head back and et out a soft moan, that in some weird way seemed to mix beautifully with the Chao's song. Tikal was silent for a second before lowering her head. "I understand…" She eventually managed to say, with is more than Shadow could, who was a left a little speechless.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Chaos

Age: U/A

Sex: Could be either

Race: Liquid, if that can be classified as a race.

Job Description:

Guardian of the Chao race and of the Chaos Shrine. Later turned insane when the Echidna's ransacked the land, slaughtering his people.


	10. Episode 5, part 2

Flip card 2:

Name: Mishoal

Sex: Male

Age; 35

Species: Echidna

Job Description: High priest of the dark god, Krish-Kra-Pal

* * *

At least while he had the hood up, Chris could pass for another Echidna. Most people within the massive Cathedral were too busy to notice him walking around, exploring, the towering building anyway. Every room he entered was devoted to the worship of their god, each one with several worshippers kneeling in front of a statue, similar to the one they'd seen inside the old ruin. That god of theirs looked so ugly to Chris, so demonic and menacing. How could they worship it, and precisely where did this fanatical devotion of theirs come from? A lot of time and effort had been put into creating this Cathedral, nearly every wall had some story carved into it in intricate, artist detail. Chris couldn't understand the language they were written in, however he was content to study the pictures. 

"With all respect intended your holiness, I only have a few moments. I'm expected to lead my men personally." A deep voice from just behind the corner of a wall said. Chris hesitated, before pressing his back against the wall, listening.

"You'll just have to make time Pachamac." The second voice, the human boy recognised at once, it was the same priest they had been brought before when they first arrived, the one called Mishoal. "I need several of your best warriors, immediately."

"I'm afraid that isn't possible. I need every man I have for the advance, I'm supposed to be on my way to join my men at the front when you summoned me." Chris stuck his head out from behind the corner, making sure that he was still hidden, but had a good look at who else was there. As he guessed, Mishoal was there, talking to a elderly brown Echidna dressed in robes made out of feathers and holding a wooden staff with a pointed spear on the end of it. Like Knuckles, on each hand he had a pair of spark spikes, hidden underneath a pair of gloves.

"That wasn't a request Pachamac." Mishoal replied, his eyes narrowing, the light from down the hallways casting a very unnerving set of shadows over his facial features. "You'll spare those men, unless you want your family excommunicated." The elderly Echidna paused, looking suddenly very worried. "Your daughter is blasphemous enough."

"Very well. Several of my best will be here as soon as possible. But for now, if you excuse me, I am urgently needed else ware." Seemingly satisfied with that answer, The Mishoal nodded.

"Of course, I mustn't keep you." Pachamac bowed respectfully wand walked off in a hurry, disappearing behind one of the other corridors. Chris wasn't sure what was going on, but this seemed very interesting, warranting further investigation. Mishoal remained stationary for a moment, before chuckling lightly to himself and walking off. Making sure that he was still out of sight, Chris followed him through the many corridors. Things were not as straight forward around here as it seemed, that was plainly obvious.

Mishoal rounded a corner, coming upon a large set of wooden doors that parted to let him pass the moment he reached the threshold. Chris had not even any one enter of leave through this door all morning. The boy paused for a moment, before quickly following. The chamber beyond the doors was a large, oval shaped space with a arched ceiling. Many other priests were there doing one thing or another, and Chris found he was able to mingle amongst their number without being noticed before Mishoal could notice that the boy had followed him inside. As expected, in the very centre of this chamber was another statue of their good, looking as menacing as usual. But placed before him on a large alter, as something Chris wound never expect to see. A large stone ring, engraved with runes. It was the second time ring, the one they'd been searching for. So this was the place the Echidna's of the future had left their device, or perhaps the Echidna's of this time had moved it here. Either way, he had to get back to his others and tell them all what he'd found.

"Imbecile!" Mishoal shouted from across the room, striking someone who'd just given him some bad news across the face, knocking him to the ground. "I thought I told you not to let them out of your sight!"

"I beg your forgiveness, your grace." The Echidna who'd pushed the wrong button managed to stutter, dropping down to his knees and hands.

"Get out of my sight and do not return until you find them, and failing that, the black and red hedgehog in their company." He added as every looked in way, before turning back to whatever they were doing to avoid catching the High priest's eye.

* * *

"Just what sort of service is this supposed to be anyway?" Chuck asked, who had finally woken up, only to be handed a rather unattractive robe. Rouge simply shrugged, nimbly tossing her robe over the balcony with no intention of every wearing it. "And just where is Chris?" He added, pushing himself off the uncomfortable bed and up onto his feet, reaching for his white jacket. "I hope that boy hasn't wandered too far, gotten himself in trouble. And just where is everybody else?" 

"Knuckles is out there sulking, and Sonic and the boys went to see if they could find that second time ring." The bat replied, wondering briefly if she should fly around the city to help them search as she stared out at the city from the balcony.

"And found nothing." Sonic replied as he shot over the top of the balcony with Metal Sonic flying quickly behind him. "Is this yours?" He added, handing Rouge back her robe.

"We searched everywhere we could." Metal Sonic stated, his engines powering down, lowering him gently to the floor. "We found nothing. There isn't a single place around here, apart from this Cathedral, that's large enough to house something like that." Chuck nodded.

"Then it stands to reason then that the time ring is somewhere in this building."

"Hey Shadow." Sonic began as the Ultimate Life-form somersaulted up onto the balcony. "Any luck?" The black hedgehog shook as his head as he entered the room, a strange look on his face.

"Just a brief glimpse into the past." He replied unsteadily, before leaning against the wall. "And now I think we need to find that Time ring and fast." Sonic looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"And why's that?" Before the black and red hedgehog could answer, the door to their room burst open and Chris shot in, quickly slamming the door behind him.

"Hey Chris." Rouge waved over, but suddenly noticed the boy's agitated look. His hands pressed against the back of the door, his breath sharp and shallow, showing he'd been running as fast as he could. "What's wrong?" Chris looked up quickly

"We have to leave, now!" He nearly shouted. Everyone, even Metal Sonic was looking at him strangely.

"Calm down Chris." Chuck began, but the boy managed to butt in quickly to finish what he'd started.

"They know we lied, Mishoal is out looking for us. There's a bounty on our heads." That forced a solemn silence on all of them.

"Are you sure?" Chuck asked. Chris nodded several times very quickly.

"Yes, and they want you most of all Shadow." The black hedgehog blinked in confusion.

"What? Why me?" He asked. Chris paused for a moment to catch his breath.

"Don't know. I didn't hang around long enough to find out." He hesitated again, remembering something important. "Oh yeah, and I found the second time ring." Everyone was instantly by his side, looking up at him with anticipation in their eyes, all of them blurting out questions like where, when and how to get to it. Chris managed to get enough information from their questions to answer. That he'd found it beneath one of those ugly statues. The Echidna's of this time had mistaken it for an alter and had offerings were often being placed upon it.

"And you're sure it's a Time ring?" Shadow asked. Chris nodded.

"It was exactly the same as the one we found in the Ruins on Angel Island." Sonic smacked a fist into his palm.

"Alright, we're back in the game. Rouge, see if you find Knuckles while Shadow and I borrow their little toy." The bat nodded, before unfolding her wings and disappering out of the window. "Metal, keep Chuck and Chris safe until we get back." The machine just gave a breif nod before the blue Hedgehog and the ultimate lifeform almost flew out of the door, becoming faint black and blue blurs.

* * *

Loathed as he was to admit it, Rouge had raised a good point. Literally telling them what would happen if they didn't change would never work for two very good reasons. One, they were all too fanatical and two, they'd never believe him anyway. But that wouldn't deter him, even if he hadn't come up with an effective plan yet. 

He'd though that walking amongst the people of the city, inside one of these hideous robes would help him come up with something, all it did however was make him more and more confused. These were his own people, and yet still he felt distanced from them, which wasn't too surprising.

He'd never actually been amongst other Echidna's before in his life, so he supposed it was natural to feel a little strange. All his life all he'd known as solitude, living alone on Angel Island with only the Master Emerald as his life.

There was a sudden clap of thunder and it began to rain heavy without any warning at all. Knuckles simply sighed to himself and kept on walking, his dreadlocks quickly becoming matted.

He stopped and stared, only to be reminded what he had sworn to do as a small group of Echidna soldiers carrying spear like weapons walked past from the street opposite. If they carried on like this, there was no telling exactly how long their civilisation had left.

"Wonderful sight isn't it?" Asked a voice. Knuckles blinked and looked to his side to see and elderly Echidna woman staring after the soldiers. Some of her dreadlocks were missing, showing her advanced age. Knuckles grumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms.

"Sure it is." He muttered sarcastically. The old Echidna however was hard of hearing and didn't managed to pick it up.

"My husbands part of the army you know, even in his advanced years." Knuckles wasn't listening. He was too busy still trying to think up a plan. "Of course I don't suppose they'll need his services for very long. He might even come home tomorrow for retirement after one last campaign for the Emeralds."

The last statement caught Knuckles' attention, he stopped and stared, mouth hung open.

"What…" He began, his eyes widening his horror. The Echidna woman stared at him with a questioning look on her face.

"My husband's part of the forces that's requisitioning the Emeralds from the Shrine." He suddenly looked very proud again. "He and his other patriots are probably there now," She never even finished, Knuckles had turned about on one heal and started running. "What, where are you going?! She called after him.

"To stop your husband from making the biggest mistake of his life."

* * *

"Move aside Tikal." Pachamac shouted across the gap to his daughter, who stood before the invasion force, the only thing stopping them from advancing to the shrine. The Chao were cowering behind her, come crying. Tikal remained steadfast, shaking her head. The small army of Echidna's had broken through the traps their enemies had placed amongst the jungle and were now a stones throw away from the shrine. 

"I shall not." Pachamac tightened the grip on his staff. "Do this, and you condemn our race to travel the lonely road of misery and self annihilation." Thick ,black clouds were beginning to gather overhead, the low rumbling of a coming thunder storm beginning to vibrate in the distance.

"As your father and war chief, I order you to step aside!" Pachamac called over. Some of his warriors were wondering why they did not simply charge now and get it over with. The girl was clearly a heretic.

"No!" Tikal snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"We need those seven emeralds for the survival of our religion." Her father was rapidly loosing his patience with his child, his fanatical devotion to their religion nearly overriding any parental morals.

"Our religion is based on greed and self-superiority. It is flawed, evil! Greed itself is our true enemy, once it starts in your heart you will always want more. The seven emeralds will never be enough for our religion, it will keep consuming all before it. This is holy ground father, I will not let you pass!" Pachmac snarled, clasping his war staff high into the air.

"I'll not listen to the words of a child!" He stated, finally snapping. Bolts of lightning were beginning to cross the sky, rolling thunder beating down from the clouds. "Ready men, CHARGE!" Tikal had just enough time to scream as the army, fanatical and obeying their commander's orders charged with the loudest battle cry they could muster.

"FATHER NO!!!!!!!"

* * *

Knuckles blinked and looked off toward the horizon. Something had drawn his attention. There was a sudden clap of thunder and amongst the screams of countless Echidna soldiers came a blaring white light that erupted from some point beyond the city walls and the storm seemed to intensify ten fold. All was silent for a moment, and then it started raining, hard and fast, coming down like there was no tomorrow. Breaking the silence came a roar that stretched over the jungle and seemed to shake the very ground beneath his feet. He knew that roar, after all he had heard it before. Suddenly, the ground began shaking like there was an earthquake. The Echidna's all around him began panicking, some pushing past each other in a vain attempt to get away from something. 

"Perfect Chaos." Knuckles breathed. "I'm too late!"

* * *

(In Chris' Voice) 

Here we go again, Perfect Chaos is on a rampage! Can Sonic and the others stop it's destructive path and change history, or is time set to repeat itself? Find out, next time on Sonic X, The Arch of History. Don't miss it!


	11. Episode 6, part 1

(Ido not own Sonic..etc.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO GO GO GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

Episode 6: The Arch of History

Sand stone bricks went flying as the ground literally spilt open, thousands upon thousands of geysers began erupting. Echidna's, screaming in terror, disappeared as colossal tentacles shot up through the ground, ripping their streets to pieces, letting them all fall to their deaths in rapid rivers that had forced their way underground. Large tentacles spiralled around the buildings, before pulling them down below ground. The rain intensified, letting the river not too far from the city overflow, sinking several miles in each direction under a foot of water. A violent series of flashes shot across the sky, followed by booming claps of thunder.

No matter how quickly Knuckles tried to react, he was always too late to save anyone. Men, women and children disappeared in a flash before his eyes, and he was powerless to help them. The entire Echidna civilisation was disappearing before his eyes, consumed by a raging sea of destruction. A wall of water shot up from the street, sending mud and bricks flying into the air as he carved a scar across the city from east to west, ripping buildings that stood in it's way in two. One it had crossed to the other side of the city, it paused and began sucking up all the water around it, using the mass to increase it's own size.

Once it was large enough, it began forming features. A giant mouth with row after row of sharp teeth lining it's gums, a long slathering tongue whipping at the air. Several shark like fins running down it's long back to a thick bulk that seemed to be constantly drawing water into it. At least fix giant tentacles lanced out from it's body, grabbing whatever solid objects they could wrap themselves around. A pair of glowing green eyes narrowed before the mouth shot open, a ear piercing roar rolling through the air.

Perfect Chaos, the being that had destroyed his people. Whatever curse had been laid upon the Echidna, now forced him to watch his own people's inhalation. Unless he could stop Chaos! Knuckles barred his teeth and tried to advanced, but without warning the storm around them reached it's peek, intense winds forcing him back, stinging his eyes. He held a path to his face, trying to shield himself. Perfect Chaos shot it's head to the side and vomited a beam of chaos energy out of it's jaws, carving another hole in the city.

"I think we should leave." Chuck commented, staring in horror at the monstrous creature as it took it's fated, vengeful wrath on the city. So far, the Cathedral and the buildings around it had been left undamaged, but they knew full well that Perfect Chaos was destined to reduce the entire city to rubble.

"I second that motion." Metal Sonic replied. Eggman had provided his databanks with information about this event. If the data was to be trusted, then not one of them was a match for this creature.

"We can't go!" Chris began. "We have to help these people!" There was a colossal booming sound as nearly a quarter of the city exploded, the ruins swallowed by raging flood waters.

"I think it's a little late for that." Metal Sonic replied as a pieces from the ceiling fell down, followed by s thick cloud of brick dust.

Sonic and Shadow stared in horror from another window else ware in the Cathedral. Every impulse in their bodies was telling them to race off to stop this madness, but their heads told them it was far too late already. Perfect Chaos had already destroyed most of the city, and neither one of them could stop it. It was far too late for the Echidna people now.

* * *

As the ground beneath their feet violently shook and with Sonic ignoring every heroic impulse in his body, they turned their attention back to their mission. The door to the chamber Chris had described fell inward after the ultimate life form fired a Chaos Spear attack into it's hinges. The room was exactly like Chris had said, and placed before a statue of the god Krish-Kra-Pal, it's left arm knocked off by a piece of fallen masonry, was the second time ring. The one thing that could deliver them from this place and back to their own time. The chamber itself was completely deserted, most of the priests in the building had begun running once Chaos had reared it's ugly head.

"Alright, let's take this thing and go!" Shadow shouted, sliding forward. Sonic was about to follow, when someone dealt him a blow to the head from behind, sending him falling to the floor unconscious. Shadow heard the loud thump and turned, only to find that the chamber wasn't as empty as he first thought. Several Echidna warriors ambushed him from his sides, grapping his arms and forcing them behind his back. Before he could get the chance to fight back, another smashed a Knuckles type fist into his stomach, winding him, the super human strength flowing away from his limbs. Spittle went flying from his mouth as he cried out, before collapsing to his knees.

"We must hurry." Mishoal stated, entering the room, an agitated look on his face. He had already seen Perfect Chaos and the destruction it was bringing. His concern however was not for his people, but rather appeasing the whim of his god and then leaving as fast as he could. "Hurry, place the black and red one before the alter." The Echidna had held the winded Shadow nodded, before dragging him towards the ruined statue.

"What about this guy?" The Echidna who'd knocked Sonic unconscious asked, looking down at the knocked out cold hedgehog. Mishoal didn't even give the blue rodent a glance.

"Forget about him, the black and red one is all we need." Shadow's vision blurred. These Echidna's were surprisingly strong, and he found it difficult to see straight, let alone fight them. He was vaguely aware of being dragged across the room and then dropped in front of the statue.

Mishoal quickly advanced over to his side as the Ultimate life form struggled to push keep on his knees.

"Master, I have him in your presence as you required." He said in a panicked rush, bowing before the ruined edifice. "Unfortunately I fear I must abandon your holy city, please forgive my failure." Once finishing, he gestured to the others to run towards the doors, before he himself took off on his heals, tearing through the exit as fast as his legs could carry him, his Echidna's followed closely behind.

Shadow managed to gain some strength back and pushed himself up, still breathing hard.

"**Shadow..." **A whispering voice said as he looked up, instantly aware from where the sound was coming from. He stared at the skull like face with demonic horns and inject like pincers of the Echidna's god, and breathed in sharply when he saw the eyes glow bright green. **"Come to me, Shadow. Come to me." **Shadow tried to back away in horror, but found some invisible force was holding his feet to the spot. He tried to move, but found they weren't listening to him anymore, no matter now much he tried. Sonic was still out cold, and was of little help, no matter how much the black hedgehog shouted for his help. He was forced to watch, unable to run as some presence, great in power yet terrible in intent, forced it's into the room, encircling him. He could literally feel it's very existence on his skin, and the feeling made him feel sick. He collapsed to his knees, his head and stomach reeling. **"Come to me!" **

* * *

Perfect Chaos' tentacles tore through the buildings, tossing thick clouds of brick dust into the air, only to be smacked back down again by the thick rain as it crashed down from the skies. Rouge could hardly maintain her flight in the crushing, almost twister like wind conditions the storm was imposing. Forcing her down forward the ground, he folded her wings behind his back to prevent their drag from throwing her into the streaming vortex. She could hardly see: which nearly cost her her life as one of Chaos' tentacles tore through the earth before her, narrowly missing her feet by inches.

"Knuckles, where are you, you crazy idiot?!" She screamed into the wind, only to have its howling blocked out her words. It was her acute hearing that managed to pick up his voice from somewhere amongst the howling. Trusting her senses and instincts, she let them guide her through the destruction, past towering geysers and collapsing buildings and underneath bridges made by fallen walls to a small square that so far had been left undamaged, by the flood waters were slowly by surely rising, threatening to swallow it all.

Knuckles was there, helping a small group of Echidna, possibly no more than a few dozen in number, escape Chaos' wrath. Rouge hesitated when she realized that they she was staring at the only survivors of the flood. Everyone else, all those people they'd seen when they arrived where all...

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" The Red Echidna was shouted as a tower of masonry collapsed with a deafening crash, raging waters not far behind it.

"Knuckles come on!" Rouge shouted over to him, the wind pressing her large ears to her head. "We've found the time ring, we have to go!" Knuckles shot her a glare over his shoulder.

"Forget it!" The Echidna snapped at the bat. "I'm not leaving. Now if you want to help, then help me get these people out of here!"

* * *

"Who are you?" Shadow almost whispered, staring up, feeling the presence around him and were it was hovering now. "What do you want from me?"

"**Only to complete your purpose Shadow, end result of the quest to create the Ultimate life form."** The black and red hedgehog's eyes shot wide open. How did it know what he was? **"I was the reason you were created. I am Krish-Kra-Pal."** Shadow tried to struggle against his invisible restraints, failing to break free once again.

"You don't exist!" The Hedgehog hissed through gritted teeth, trying to pull himself away. The presence chuckled.

"**I can assure you, I am very real. In fact, you owe me for your very existence."** The ground shock, Perfect Chaos' rampage reaching it's peak outside. Shadow tried again to break free, only to be meet with failure. **"But we have little time for introductions, come, embrace me, and for fill your purpose." **

* * *

Rouge knew full well arguing with him, especially in this situation, was completely pointless, even if it was her first impulse. Instead, she simply gave in, running after him.

As Perfect Chaos' screams tore through the air and thunder and lightning rained supreme, the small band of survivors, with only an Echidna and a bat as their protects, made their way slowly but steadily through the carnage that can only be described as looking like a war zone. The fallen buildings and carved crevices in the ground had created near countless tunnels that opened up short cuts, but had also blocked off most of the direct ways out of the city so there was a lot of ducking and weaving involved in their evacuation.

Knuckles could see the fear in their eyes. They were all terrified out of their minds, but then he hadn't really expected them to take the destruction of their city and empire too lightly.

Strangely, he couldn't feel any hatred towards Chaos. He knew he probably should, but he couldn't summon the anger necessary for it. Instead, his rage was focused at those idiotic high priests who'd brainwashed his people into doing the evil bidding of that false god of theirs.

Suddenly he discovered their only way barred by the giant collapsed pile of rubble.

Knuckles smashed a fist into it, sending it flying in every direction, opening up the path for the Echidna's to run through. With Perfect Chaos shrieking in the background, Rouge quickly herded them all through while Knuckles directed them towards the last remaining exit from the city that wasn't either flooded or destroyed. Perfect Chaos was nearly on top of them now, and the only thing between them and salvation in the form of a near collapsing state doorway was a narrow ravine carved in the ground, a seething mass of tentacles slathering above them, Chaos' huge head arched higher above. Most of them were too scared by now to go on, recoiling in fear at the mere sight of the demon that was eating away at their city.

It took some decree of persuasion on Knuckles' part to get them moving, and even then they only managed a painstakingly slow single file movement. All ducking as low as they could, some crying in fear. As the first few made it acorss, Chaos fired another beam directed at the city, erupted in a huge explosion. After that, many of them refused to move. Until of course until Rouge showed them her fangs, then they crossed the divide faster than the first lot had. Finally all that were left was one family as a few elderly Echidna's. These were the ones who were most afraid, paralysed with fear. They flatly refused to move. There was a loud crashed and behind them cascading waters began pouring down the ravine toward them, threatening to crush them. That was all the motivation any of them would need, even the elderly ones with the terrible joints managed to make it across in record time. As soon as they were all across, Knuckles turned and slammed a fist into the side of the rubble, causing a cascade that blocked the ravine diverting the course of the flood away from them.

"Thank you." An elderly Echidna had enough time to say, laying a hand on Knuckles shoulder, before hurrying off to join his people, the blood curling screeches of Perfect Chaos growing louder by the second.

"Come on Knuckles, they're safe. We have to go NOW!" Rouge nearly screamed in his ear.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Perfect Chaos

Age: N/A

Sex: Could be male...

Race; Water demon

Job description: Chaos, once he absorbed all seven Chaos emeralds. Responsibly for the death of the Echidna Empire.


	12. Episode 6, part 2

(I do not own Sonic...etc.)

* * *

Flip Card 2

Name: Rouge

Sex: female

Age: 17

Species: Bat

Job description: Government agent, also a jewel fanatic.

* * *

"Embrace me Shadow." The presence demanded this time, looming over him, like it was extending a pair of hands around him, preparing to snatch him up in it's grasp. **"I am your destiny."** Shadow felt sick to his stomach, the words spoken were empty and hollow, doing little to disguise their speakers true nature. Shadow could, see, right through them to this monstrosity. It was what he saw that made him so sick. A mind so full of darkness and emptiness that for a moment he began to doubt his own perceptions of the world. It was trying to force it's way from the outside and directly in to him, and it's presence around him was literally pushing him out. It was trying to replaced his mind with it's.

An image of his old friend, the girl with sea blue eyes and blonde hair flashed before the black hedgehog's eyes and whatever striking hold this thing had over him evaporated.

"I don't care who you are, or what you claim, or what you've done or are going to do." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. The insides beginning to burn with chaos energy. "I am not your property. I make my own destiny!" He closed his eyes and turned inward, tapping into his own power, the residual energy of the chaos emeralds their power had left in him. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He screamed, throwing his arms out and instantly his body was engulfed by a white ball of the purest light, forcing the threatening presence away from him.

"NO!!!!" The voice shrieked, trying desperately to snatch as him, but found itself being pushed further and further away.

* * *

Mishaol had an personal escape tunnel he'd had put into the Cathedral years ago for precautionary measures, it seemed now however his precaution was a sensible one. As he neared the entrance to his salvation, there was a loud rumbling and the ground beneath his feet shock violently as something on the floors above him exploded. The force knocked him off his feet and also blew a hole out through the wall. Chaos, who was busy ripping another part of town up, noticed the explosion and his attention wad diverted straight towards the Echidna's Cathedral.

* * *

Tikal had been injured, knocked unconscious, one or the other, or both. She couldn't tell. Her attention was on something else other than her physical condition however. Holding her numb arm, which had several trails of blood on it, she staggered her way up the stairs towards the top of the shrine. The bodies of Chao lay all around her, the discharged spears, shields and robes ere everything as well. All collapsed in piles around her, as if Chaos had simply destroyed their bodies, all that they were carrying falling right to the ground. Her father's ceremonial staff lying right beside the Master Emerald, one of his gloves still holding onto its length. She should have known things would end this. She paused long enough to gaze down at her father's staff. Why hadn't her father listened to her instead of those priests? She knew what she had to do, and she was terrified of doing it, but she knew she had little choice. She had to end this madness. As she stood before the giant jewel, she began to utter the words her grandmother had taught her.

"The servers are the Seven Chaos…." She began.

* * *

"Ah crap!" Chuck cursed as Perfect Chaos began tearing through the city toward them. The Cathedral was the last building left standing in the city and the largest target left for the watery demon. As they began to back away from the window, there was a sudden flash of light from behind them and before any of them knew what was happen, they felt Shadow's hand upon their shoulder, before the light engulfed them all and they vanished instantly in a small Chaos Control warp.

Knuckles and Rouge watched from a distance as Chaos began to slowly edged his away toward the Cathedral. Where Chris and the others still in there, if not, they had better hurry up and get out before Chaos finished what he started. All of the city around them had gone now, replaced by a raging sea and towering piles of rubble, harsh winds licking at them from the air. As Shadow came out of a Chaos control war just in front of them with Chris, Chuck and Metal Sonic in tow, Rouge had just enough time to curse before he laid a hand on both their shoulders and disappeared again, dragging them back into the warp with him.

Chaos control, while often random and unpredictable, could be controlled however it took a serious amount of concentration to do so and when travelling from place to another and carrying objects in varying mass alone with you, it also manages to drain the users' life energy. Leaving Shadow nearly depleted when he arrived back the time ring. Chaos was nearly upon them now. He had to act fast now if they were going to make it out of here alive.

"I hope this works." Shadow muttered to himself, a hand trailing towards the Time ring, before the fingers spread out wide and the black and red hedgehog delved deep into his own life force. Chaos Control blared into action for the last time and is sensing it's usage, the runes engraved into the rings' stone surface glowed bright white, beams of light lancing out from behind the lines, reaching upward.

* * *

Mishaol felt the cold air on his back, and slowly turned around, only to come face to face with a giant green eyes, its feline like silted pupil staring down at him, filled with nothing but anger and rage through the gap in the wall.

"No, NO! STAY BACK!" He screamed, nearly tripping over himself as he stammered backwards away from the gap in the wall. Of course now it was far too late, Chaos' tentacles were already wrapped completely around the Cathedral like some giant squid. The sea of its being had consumed the city entirely, and only this building was left standing, and now was the last thing in Chaos' way. Mishaol screamed out load as Chaos reared it's colossal head back and fired a beam of Chaos energy straight through the gap in the wall, sending a wall of white hot fire coursing down the floors, exploding out the bottom of the Cathedral with a massive explosion.

It's foundations destroyed, the last building left standing in the city crashed to the ground, as it fell into the flood waters, chaos let his head roll back and uttered one last victory scream, his vengeance upon the Echidna people complete. However, his anger was not satisfied. His rage did not ebb, the world around him was still standing. His frustrations turned to everything around him. Then, his final purpose became clear to him. He would coat the entire world in water, wipe clean the land and remove all traces of intelligent life, to return all living things from whence they came, to the sea. Before he could begin however, Chaos paused and looked back toward the way it had come, back toward the shrine and the ruins of the shrine. A bright green light had appeared on the horizon, slowly growing stronger and brighter as time passed. Perfect Chaos tried to ignore it, his heart still filled with nothing but anger, but something was preventing him to exacting his wrath on the rest of the world. Slowly but surely, the light began to draw him toward it, pulling backwards. One by one, the Chaos emeralds were wrenched from his being and as his power decreased, where flung to the four corners of the world, where he could not get them.

"Forgive me Chaos." A soft voice on the winds whispered in his ear, before the pull intensified a thousand fold and Chaos, the guardian of the Chao, was sucked through the air, over the canopy of the jungle and forced into the Master Emerald, and to seal his prison, Tikal offered up her freedom, following her old friend into his imprisonment. The Master Emerald's glow intensified as Chaos's power was added to its own, before it settled down again. The rain and thunder ceased almost immediately and the clear sky began to break through the clouds, shafts of light reaching down towards the ground.

* * *

Outside of time, there exists a sub reality that one has to travel through when travelling either forwards or backwards through time itself. Sort of like sitting outside in a waiting room while a request is processed. Since it is outside of time, none of them could be sure exactly how long they were there. Going back in time, they had travelled so fast that they hardly noticed anything at all, but going forward it seemed was particularly more complex, taking longer. Long enough for them to actually be aware of their surroundings and since time isn't relative in that strange place, their perception of it was different for each of them. Sonic's mind worked faster, or perhaps he just didn't slow down long enough for complex thought to catch up with him, so for him only a few seconds actually passed before he was flung forward through the time stream. Chuck, since he was far more calculating and stuffed full of complex thoughts and ideas and as such he believed himself in that void long enough to come up with several scientific theories about it. Either way, they were all sent to the exact same point in time so it didn't really matter.

* * *

For Tails and Amy, left behind in the present, only a full minute had passed. During that time exited the chamber in which they'd found the original time ring and found Sonic and the others there waiting for them, standing around, all looking very confused.

"What the hell was that?" Tails demanded, not realizing he and Amy were light years from everyone else's thoughts. Knuckles heaved himself to his feet, knowing instantly where he was. He had to go back and try again to save his people, but to his dismay he discovered that the time ring inside the chamber they'd opened had crumbled into pieces, now little more than useless stone rubble. There was a single moment in which Knuckles mind went numb, and then he realized completely that his one and only chance to save his people had slipped through his fingers. He sank to his knees.

With little else to do, they all sat down and began talking, Trying to come up with meaningful explanations for their experiences, although that did little to help Knuckles, who simply sat there silently while Rouge told them about the small band of survivors they'd helped escape. Shadow had told them nothing of his supposed encounter with the Echidna's god, unsure himself if he'd been hallucinating. All entire issue was far too confusing. "You don't really expect me to believe you just spent a day in the past." Tails began, raising an eyebrow sceptically. "Are you perfect sure that flash of light didn't give you all concussions or something."

"Robot's don't get concussions." Metal Sonic put in. "And I have most of our time there recorded in by data banks." Tails hardly looked in his direction.

Sonic, who'd been talking with Amy about what it was like, suddenly noticed exactly how isolated Knuckles looked. Not that he hadn't seemed isolated before, but now he looked even more so.

"Hey Knuckles, are alright?" Sonic asked. The Echidna shot a glare back over his shoulder.

"No Sonic, I'm not." He stood up and turned to face him. "I just lost my one and only chance to save up people. I watched as Chaos drowned them all, all I could manage was to save a few people." He smacked a fist into the wall beside him, brick dust falling down towards the floor. "If only I'd had more time, I might have been able to save them!"

"I'm afraid you couldn't have done anything." Chuck added, almost whispering, his statement gaining everyone's attentions. "I believe I've figured out why the Echidna's who built the Time Ring in the first place never travelled back to alter their past." He stood up, his head still lowered, as if he was afraid to look Knuckles in the eyes for fear of what he was about to say. "Time, it seems, it set of a straight course, like a train on a track it's progress can not be impeded no matter how much we try." He finally looked up, genuine sadness in his eyes. "I'm sorry Knuckles, but Perfect Chaos was supposed to destroy the Echidna people. It was destined to happen, and we, even with our knowledge of future events, will always be powerless to change it."

"You mean…" Knuckles began, his eyes widening as horrific realisation finally hit him. "That anything I could have tried, everything I DID try, in the end was completely pointless?" He ended up shouting as he finished. Chuck was silent for a moment, considering the answer.

"The past is, and always will be, the past Knuckles. It's unchangeable, even with time travel. It's a lesson the remaining Echidna people learnt the hard way when they tried to alter the outcome of events in their favour."

"I'm not so certain that's true." Sonic added, gaining everyone's attention. "Knuckles, you remember those people you saved from drowning and managed to get them out of the city?" The Echidna nodded. "I think those were your ancestors, the ones who will eventually spawn you." Knuckles' eyes shot wide open. "Perhaps you were meant to travel back in the time to save them, just so their line could create you, or perhaps something else." Sonic scratched his head. "This time travel crap is weird."

"Well we'll never know now." Chuck stated, giving a small piece of the shattered ring a kick. He looked over toward the stone tablet he'd been looking out before the situation had spiralled out of control. "Do you mind if I take this for further study." He asked, picking it up.

"You can take it all if you want." Knuckles replied, walking over sadly toward the exit in the ceiling were a single shaft of sunlight lanced in. "I never want to see this place again." With that, he climbed his way out and disappeared. Rouge watched him go. She'd seen a side of Knuckles she never through existed. She'd thought all he cared about was that Master Emerald, yet now she'd been shown that there was far, far more to him than that. He needed some time alone, she could see that, so she wouldn't follow him back to the shrine; Besides, if she didn't report in soon, Topaz would probably have her head.

* * *

As they all left, they sealed the entire ruin back up by placed a large stone rock over the entrance. Had they taken more time to look around the ruins, they would have discovered the second stone tablet lying amongst the rubble, hidden underneath a sea of jungle vines. It was the same size of the first, but instead of writing on it, it had a small mural engraved in sandstone. Chuck might have had some interesting theories on why the mural showed two hedgehogs that bore an uncanny resemblance to Sonic and Shadow, where standing before another image resembling the Echidna's God in defiance. But of course, they hadn't seen it, so it lay undisturbed, hidden amongst the vines.

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

Dr. Eggman's back with a whole new plan for world domination. Can Sonic rise to the challenge, or is this Eggman's time to shine? Find out next time on Sonic X, Eggman's big comeback. Don't miss it!

* * *

(Quick end of saga note: Sorry the last few episodes have been short compared to others, they'll get longer from here on in.)


	13. Episode 7, Part 1

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO. GO. GO. GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

Return of Emerl saga

* * *

Episode 7: Eggman's big comeback!

When the Eclipse Cannon's test run had blown the moon in half, the cosmic debris from the explosion had begun to settle, over the last few months, into a faint ring that spiralled around the planet, occasionally bombarding it with showers of meteors that burned up in the atmosphere long before they could even get close to the surface. By no means as spectacular as Saturn's but beautiful none the less. It made watching the night sky far more exciting than it had been in pervious years. Most telescopes however were directed no were near this new cosmic event. Most were kept pointed directly at the moon, or more precisely it's metallic half that served as the headquarters of the Eggman Empire. Nights were far darker, as the shimmering metal half did not reflect the sun's light, so very little people would be found out on the streets at night. The entire world's intelligence divisions were in a state of pent up readiness, so it was no surprise that when a pair of massive doors in the Egg moon's underside swung open and several space ships flew out that alarms bells began ringing in every country around the world. Within moments, the U.S government had confirmed at the objects heading for the planet's surface were Eggman Empire drop-ships and were heading from the European Continent, or more accurately, the middle of the French countryside.

By the time those ships had entered the atmosphere, the French national defence fighters were already in the air and on an intercept course. The pilots had authorisation to do whatever it took to destroy those ships. The Eggman Empire drop ships, numbering five, were now over French air space, heading north towards Paris as the fighter planes caught up with them. As the pilots prepared missile fire, on the leading drop- ship, a large platform rose up from underneath a sliding panel in the centre of the craft. Standing directly in the centre of this platform was one of Eggman's E1000 elite. It retained the basic shape of the E100 series before it, with round body and thin legs with large flat feet, blood red in colour, on each hand however replacing the often inaccurate laser rifles was a pair of battle adapted flamethrowers. The words**, E1004: Thetha** were painted in small white letters on its chest plate. The robot stared at the planes following them for a moment, before it raised it's left armed, directing the barrel of it's flamethrower toward them. A torrent of white hot flames screamed through the air, striking the leading plane with pin-point accuracy. The pilot having just enough time to curse and bail out with his parachute before the fuel tanks caught fire and the plane exploded into tiny flaming fragments, the other four already pouring through the smoke after the fast fleeing ships.

"Thetha." The voice over the com system built into the robots head announced itself. The robot barley even acknowledged its presence, it simply kept blasting away at the planes and one by one they fell to the ground, pillars of smoke slowly rising into the sky. "I've reading an object closing on your position at high speed. It can only be one thing." The robot turned to look down at the narrow cliff side valley they were quickly approaching. Approaching from the west was a blurred blue streak.

"Don't worry Doctor." It replied, turning its attention back to the last fighter plane, blasting it to pieces before it had the chance to fire any missiles what so ever. "The specialty for the day is Barbequed Hedgehog."

* * *

Sonic watched the ships from the ground, keeping up with them with ease. He figured Eggman would try something like this, so he'd had Chuck keep a close eye of any military transmissions so they could pin point the spear head movement of the Eggman Empire. The valley was a dense mix of trees with a thick canopy and foliage that spread for miles, still he was able to keep track of the five ships flying above him. He'd seen something blast the few fighter planes that had been following them to pieces with what looked like nothing but fire. It seemed Eggman had been up to his robot handy work again. Sonic wondered what the scientist had in store this time. It began to look like they were started to land, Sonic knew if best chance to hit them and hit them hard was to get them while they were still in the air. He waited until they sank a little lower, then he sped to the right and up the sheer cliff face that marked the valley side. Reaching the top, he pushed of with his powerful legs, his jump super propelling him through the air. As the point where his weight was balanced perfectly, he forced his head over his feet and began spinning. His attack slammed straight through one of the ships and as he came out of the other side, landing on the end of another ship, he looked back to watch the last one, engulfed in flames sink faster and faster, before crashing into the ground. Well, one down, four to go.

Suddenly, several small laser turrets rose from their hiding places on the sides and roof of the ship, aimed directly at him and started blasting. Moving too fast for them to get a lock on, he tore through those on the right with another super spin, before taking hold of a sharp corner at the front to flip himself up side down, his balance perfect again, he slammed straight down through the cock pit of the ship, surprising the two robot pilots.

As the second ship began to fall, Sonic leapt out at the last minute before an explosion tore it in half. Sonic slid own to the cliff race again, using it's curvature to run back down to ground level. He'd certainly gotten their attention now. One of the ships had actually broken formation and was going back to fight him, which of course was exactly the action he'd wanted them to take. He reached a piece of rock that jutted out into the air at a thirty degree angle, and using that as a ramp, the hedgehog propelled himself into the air again, becoming a spinning ball that tore through the third ship, which had positioned itself in exactly the correct position to his attack to work, tearing right down the middle. Flying out the end, Sonic righted himself in mid air and landed with a loud thud on the end of the second ship. He was slightly curious that they hadn't deployed any flight capable robots to go after him, but of course when there was a loud groaning sound from the first ship; it was forced out of the hedgehog's mind. Looking up, he yelped and dived to the floor to avoid being hit in the face with a wall of screaming flames.

"You know what they say Sonic." A voice said sharply as Sonic looked up. Standing on the roof of the other ship was one of Eggman's robots. With the standard E100 design, blood red, with two large flames throwers on its arms. Yellow and orange flames had been painted onto its body and legs and two wheels jutted out from the back of its large black feet, showing it could convert into mobile mode whenever the need arose. "If you play with fire, you're going to get burned!" Another burst of fire erupted from the barrels of the flame throwers coursed through the air toward him. Sonic dodged to the side, but still wasn't fast enough to avoid getting the ends of his quills burnt. Sonic gave an impressed whistle.

"Eggman's certainly gone all out this time." Thetha ignored the comment and simply kept blasting, Sonic relying on his acrobatic skills and back flipped to avoid being burned alive. It quickly became odvious that he had to get in close if he was to have any chance of taking this robot down, and do it without getting himself badly scolded in the process. A burst of fire caught his leg, sending painful signals throughout his entire body. Yelping, the hedgehog collapsed, some of his blue fur turned a crispy black.

"Can't take the heat Hedgehog?" Thetha asked; a pair of rocket boasters helping the robot to hover over to the second ship. He hovered a few feet about the hedgehog, holding both barrels of the flame throwers down toward him. "I'd expected more from the greatest enemy of the Eggman Empire." Sonic suddenly shot back with a grin, before flipped back to his feet completely unharmed, getting enough time to land a super fast kick straight across Thetha's width, knocking the robot into the air. Sonic had taken worse attacks than that before and always come out on top, he'd hardly felt a thing, but played it up to make the robot come in for the kill. The hedgehog would never have been able to jump the distance without getting a full blast from the fire. "Oh that really burns me up!" Thetha snarled, landing with a loud thud on the other side of the second ship. The first one had sped on, trying to use this time to separate itself from the Hedgehog.

"Dude, those fire puns are getting worse by the second." The hedgehog groaned, before sprinting forward; kick jumping off Thetha's head up into the air, before curved back down in a super spin, landing on the very end of the ship that was trying to get away. Thetha's turned to watch as Sonic tore through that ship with several last spins, before spiralling into the air away from the ship as it crashed straight into the cliff wall. The E1000 robot the wreckage as Sonic landed back where he'd been, already in a fight stance.

"Well I guess that's sayonara to Eggman's army." The blue hedgehog said with a wide grin. "Give it up bot-boy, I've already won." Thetha looked back, its own glass eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

"Yes, I believe I've dragged this out long enough." Sonic blinked in surprise.

"What you mean?" He asked. Theta folded his large arms and began laughing.

"Sorry to disappoint you hedgehog, but those ships you just destroyed were empty. Apart from the pilots, there weren't any robots inside them." Sonic couldn't suddenly see their plan. All this was simply a diversion, meant to draw their attention and it had worked perfectly. "Pilot." Thetha began. "Activate self destruct sequence, ten second delay." He looked directly at Sonic again. "Hate to leave a battle unfinished, but I've got to fly.! So long sucker!" His rockets flared up again, and he flew into the air, flying faster and faster away from the ship as he could.

"Self destruct?! Sonic repeated, before throwing himself off of the ship as it exploded in a blast that knocked him off balance, sending him crashing down into the canopy below. The tree branches were hardly pleasant to have scrapping against his skin as he crashed through several feet of foliage before hitting the ground.

Luckily for the blue hedgehog, he wasn't that hurt, apart from his pride as he lay on top of a bush, groaning loudly.

"Tricked by Eggman. I'll never live it down."

* * *

"Do we have confirmation of this?" The President asked as they he, his personal aid Christina Cooper, several top ranking Generals from the military, an Admiral from the navy and several agents from the Special attics division sat down for an emergency meeting at one in the morning in the Oval Office at the White house. Ever since the first ship had entered the atmosphere, the President had been up running through report after report that was thrown on his desk. One of the generals nodded.

"The French Government made it clear that the salvage teams found nothing inside the destroyed ships, they where indeed completely empty." The president leaned back into his chair, a half finished brandy sitting on the desk in front of him. This wasn't what he had in mind when he signed up for this job, he expected he'd be talking problems like world hunger, poverty and public rights, rather than mad scientists and their plans for global domination. The UN was breathing down his neck for a long overdue problem to this solution.

"Several hours ago, one of our satellites detected a larger force of Drop-ships entering the atmosphere. We didn't detect it before since we were occupied with the five in France. It seems to be the real invasion force. At least twenty in total." Another General put in. "They've been tracked to the pacific ocean, where they proceeded to dive underwater. We believe Dr. Eggman is in the process of installing an undersea base."

"Can we attack in any way?" The President asked. "Submarines or any of the naval forces?" The admiral shook his head.

"No sir. Eggman already has a defensive perimeter around the sight. We send any submarines or boats into the marked area, they'll get blasted out of the water before they can launch any kind of contour attack." The President ran his fingers through his hair, groaning loudly.

"What about Giant Wing?"

"Not ready for launch yet sir. We estimate another couple of days before all systems are operational." Project Giant Wing was where the lion share of the technology they'd salvaged from the Egg Fleet had gone, as well as other areas of military operations. What was left had been used to improve civilian life.

"Which is why we came up with this rather more, unorthodox, solution." One of the agents, the one with a pair of wire rim glasses, put in quickly. The President looked his way. "We propose to send a team of eight highly trained individuals into the area with the use of our new Fox Raider1, which we were able to produce with the technology pioneered from the Egg Fleet. It's technological upgrade will allow it to slip past the defences un-noticed. Their mission would be to assess the situation down there, and neutralise any kind of threat."

"Well, who do you recommend for this mission. Who are the eight?" The President asked, drumming his fingers on his desk. The agent reached into his jacket and withdrew a file with several papers inside, held together with a paper clip. The words…"Evaluation" were written on the front. The President took the file after the General handed it to him and opened it, finding ID reports of various agents in their organisation and others in various other places.

"From our own forces, E123: Codename Omega. Suited for intense battle with overwhelming numbers." The President nodded in approval and moved onto the next paper. "Rouge the bat, skilled in espionage, sabotage and a master in many forms of unarmed combat. And we also two new recruits who did so well during their training, I believe they'd be a valuable asset to this mission." The President looked up briefly.

"Oh, and who are they?" The agent brushed a paper aside, revealing two new reports.

"Bean and Bark." He replied, pointing to the two photos, one showing a Mobian duck with green feathers and a Mobian Polar bear with yellow fur. The report said that Bean was an explosives expert, one of the best in their service and Bark, while gifted with exceptional physical strength was also an exceptional hacker. "We have also commandeered the services of several members of the public." He directed the President's attention to the four remaining files. "From the semi-famous Chaotix defective agency, Espio the Chameleon. Probably about as skilled as Rouge in his field. We also have recruited the exceptional mechanical skills of Mile Prower, known to the general public as Tails, according to our reports. His mechanical invention rival those of Dr. Eggman himself."

"Yes, well that make's six." The president stated, putting the files back inside the folder. "Then who are the remaining two?" The agent looked hesitant for a moment before saying…

"The two remaining positions are reserved for the two most powerful, in the departments opinion, beings on Earth. Sonic the Hedgehog, and Shadow the Ultimate life form."

* * *

Dr. Eggman's new, Atlantis base, was the perfect sight to begin his operations. It was isolated, and protected by his already installed defence ring. As his robots had already finished construction of most of the base's exterior, the Doctor could turned his attentions to other matters.

"That was sear brilliance Doctor." Decoe announced as the three of them entered Eggman's new commander chamber, from here he could monitor every that went on in and around the base. The chamber was a shallow levelled pit with control panels, monitors and large complex machinery placed around the outside. At the back of the room was a large window that gave an impressive ocean view of the coral just outside. The ceiling was just a mess of pipes and wires, with a few running over the floor. There was also a large metal seat placed directly facing the large main screen. Eggman seated himself and instantly the monitors flipped on, showing how the work outside on the base was progressing. His Dreadnaught units, although they had been adapted to battle scenarios, could still be use for manual labour.

"Using Thetha to distract them….

"And then slipping our main forces in to prepare for the final attack was ingeniously cleaver." Eggman, who was easily flattered, placed his arms behind his head with a wide smile.

"Yes, not only am I a brilliant robotic engineer, but a master strategist." He chuckled lightly to himself. "Decoe, the box if you will." The robot handed him the small metal box he was carrying. Eggman's smile widened as he peaked inside, the light from two Chaos emeralds highlighting his nose and moustache. The Green and Grey Emeralds were in his clutches, with these he could gain an advantage of the military and their inferior robot designs. But most of all, it would give him an advantage over that blue irritating pin cushion.

"This is Thetha requested access to Atlantis base." A voice declared, before a mini-screen flipped on, revealing the E1000's face.

"Ah Thetha." Eggman declared, leaning forward in his chair after placing the box on the arm rest. "Access granted. How did it go?"

"Swimmingly sir." The robot replied. "I hung around long enough to see the looks on their salvage teams faces when they realized those ships were little more than decoys." Eggman laughed.

"I can just imagine it. Come right in, and we'll brief you for the mission." The screen turned itself off again.

"You did not seem angry that he failed to destroy Sonic." Decoe stated as the Doctor drummed his fingers.

"I wasn't expecting him to." Eggman replied. "Sonic the Hedgehog is a worthy foe, and nothing short of my very best will ever have a chance at defeating him." He gave his two hence-bots a glare. "And how are preparations for my latest creation coming along?"

"The ship should be operational within forty eight hours sir." Decoe replied. "It still has various engine problems that have to be corrected before we can launch."

"Not to mention installing a Chaos Emerald power grid. That's more complex than it actually sounds." Eggman shrugged his shoulder, not concerned with the small insignificant details.

"Just get it up and running. That ship is vital for my plans, get it operational fast or it'll be your heads.

* * *

24 hours later:

As Fall set in, Tails found it increasingly difficult to trudge his way down the path that lead to his new workshop. The Mystic Ruins, being covered in trees, had shed unbelievable amounts golden, orange and yellow leaves. They had piled up against the sides of the door leading into the cabin entrance of his workshop, and every day there seemed to be more and more.

"Cold?" Sonic asked as Tails threw himself in, quickly shutting the door behind him, his orange fur fluffed up. The hedgehog, along with Amy had placed themselves down on the sofa in front of the wide screen TV, one of the pink hedgehog's favourite movies on. To keep herself warm, even inside Tails' central heated house, she wore a thick green jumper and had snuggled against Sonic's fur. Sonic himself however was used to the elements and hardly noticed a thing. His thin blue fur was all he needed to keep himself cool in summer and warm in winter. He did however have a large mug of Hot chocolate at the ready. It was already getting dark outside the glinting stars beginning to peer down through the Fall sky. As Tails took his scarf on and walked over to the kitchen area, Amy pushed her way underneath Sonic's arm. The blue hedgehog didn't protest, if anything his face simply turned a deeper shade of red.

"Chuck tells me that Chris had settled into high school nicely, and from the sound of it, he's already found a girlfriend." Tails stated, pouring himself a cup of coffee, inhaling the fumes that rose from the rim. Sonic chuckled to himself.

"Go Chris."

"That's sweet." Amy added in. "So who's the girl?" Tails paused, laughed inwardly, before looking over.

"Helen." Sonic, who was taking a ship of hot coco at the time, convulsed in surprise, scolding his tongue and nearly dropping his mug. He looked back with wide eyes.

"Helen? That disabled girl from his class?" Tails nodded, sitting down beside them. Sleeping on the edge of the sofa on the arm rest was the Hero class Chao Turel that belonged to Amy. it's golden feathered wings folded against it's back as it sleep. The changeable orb above it's head, although usually in a halo like shape, now resembled rising…Z's. Sonic sat there open mouthed for a moment, before turning back to the TV, shaking his head. "Stranger things have happened." He managed to murmur, of course those stranger things had been a falling Space Colony and a Metallic version of him taking control of the Eggman Empire from the good Doctor.

Before Tails could arm himself up with his drink, the incoming message warning light on his personal computer placed on the other side of the television blared several times. He placed his coffee next to Turel and went over to see what was happening. He moved the mouse and the computer transferred from sleep to active mode. Since Tails had set his preferences so incoming messages were displayed at once. Pr. Charles ThornDyke's face flashed up instantly over a web cam connection.

"Hi Tails." The human with a smile. "Sonic's not there is he?" Sonic blinked and pushed himself off the sofa, much of Amy's displeasure.

"Sure I'm here." He said, looking over Tails' shoulder. "What's up Chuck?" The human paused to reach to the side, then looked back to the screen, raising his hand to reveal he had a white envelope in it. "I just got this message. It's from the military, they want you and Tails to be part from some special operation they're running." Sonic and Tails looked at each other, before turning back.

"What for?" They asked together. Chuck shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. It doesn't say, they just ask you to meet them at Area 99 for a mission briefing tomorrow morning." Sonic looked back at his old friend.

"Since when were we on the Government pay roll?" Tails looked blank.

"They wanted Shadow to come along as well…" Chuck began, a nervous smile breaking the features of his face. "But well."

"I'm not interested." Shadow himself finished for him, stepping forward to show he was standing behind the human. "I've more important things to do than waste my time with the military." The black hedgehog added, folding his arms. He gave Sonic a crude smile. "Besides, I'm sure you can handle this without me."

"In that case, I'm coming too." Sonic and Tails looked back to see Amy standing behind them, with on end of her hammer in hand and the other resting on her right shoulder. An evil look on her face that made even Sonic slightly nervous.

"Fine, you have at it." Shadow replied before any one could argue. "Give the President my apologies for declining." He added slyly, before disappearing. Chuck laughed to himself.

"Shadow's become certain that the Foundation Organisation were the ones that attacked him." The human stated. "Although quite frankly I think he's grasping at straws, but Metal Sonic and I will do what we can to help him with his investigation."

"Are you still perfectly sure we can trust Metal Sonic?" Tails asked.

"I heard that!" A voice from off screen declared before the link was terminated.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: E1004: Thetha

Age: 2 weeks

Sex: n/a

Species: robot

Job description: One of Eggman's latest E1000 series


	14. Episode 7, part 2

(I do not own Sonic…etc.)

* * *

Flip Card 2:

Name: Bean and Bark

Age: 17 and 25

Species: Duck and Polar Bear

Sex: Both male

Job description: New G.U.N recruits.

* * *

Not much happened around the deepest part of the Mystic Ruins. No one really ventured that deep into its uncharted reaches and so, Big found that he could fish without interruption. A group of archaeologists had come to study the ancient pyramid ruins that stood in the centre of the jungle, but they stayed out of the cat's way. Mainly because they had seen the size of his foot prints in the soft mud and assumed him to be some form of large, unknown, possibly dangerous animal. Lying back in the foliage, his fishing rod stuck in the mud next to his large feet that stuck up into the air, he snored loudly, the river just in front of him vibrating with each intake of air. A dragonfly buzzed around him, the landing on his nose, making him sneeze. But even that didn't wake him up.

Several fish skeletons and scattered bones lay on the long grass next to him picked clean of fish expect for the heads and tails, a very strong smell rising into the air from what was left of their rotting flesh. Froggy was asleep on the cat's stomach, nestled in the thick white fur, hidden apart from a green and orange spotted back sticking up into the air. There had been a fish caught on the end of the lien for some time, but as its tugs went unanswered, it eventually managed to prey its mouth free from the hook and swim off.

There was a thundering clap from the sky and within a moment the air was full of coin size rain drops. Several hit the cat straight in the head, waking him up. As he opened his eyes, another fell into his left one and he quickly sat up, rubbing himself with the back of his head. Froggy slid out of his fur and down to the ground with a loud "Ribbit!"

"Come on Froggy. We'll go fishing again tomorrow." The cat said in his usual slow voice, offering a hand down toward the frog, who hoped back his hand and up onto his shoulder after absorbing some of the water through his skin and then taking shelter underneath the fringe of purple fur at the back of the large cat's head.

As the cat paused to pick up the rest of his finger equipment, he failed to notice the sparkling object drifting downstream toward him until he waded out to catch the end of his line that was trying to swim to ward's the waterfall some distance away. It was a jewel, about the size of a closed fist with cut surfaces and a strong purple glow radiating from it.

It hit the back of Big's foot and the cat turned to look down.

"Hey Froggy. It's that pretty rock you swallowed." He stated, bending over to pick the Chaos Emerald up. Its warm purple glow highlight his face. "What'ra the odds of that?" He added, tossing it up into the air and the nimbly catching it again, before pocketing it into a knotted piece of fur near his belt.

* * *

The President surveyed the Eight standing before him around the table, trying to keep a sceptical eye, yet found himself failing as he knew the fact that these were the very best defence he could ever hope of coming up with and as such, he couldn't help but admire them. Sonic the Hedgehog had proven himself a great hero many times over, as had Amy Rose and Miles Prower. True he was disappointed that Shadow had declined, but that was to be expected. The ultimate life form had never liked them. Rouge the bat was the best agent in the business, there wasn't a single mission she couldn't handle. She had helped unearth the Project Shadow conspiracy and aided the downfall of the Metal Overlord. So had the greatest robot in their arsenal, E:123 codename: Omega. Since that time, he had been greatly upgraded for greater durability in the battlefield. He was faster, stronger and far more efficient. The President was only glad that he was on their side instead of Eggman's. Espio the chameleon was the unknown factor amongst them. A skilled ninja without any doubt, with stealth skills rivalling Rouge's, however the President had yet to assess the Chamleon's character. As for the last two, the President gave a long hard stare. He had heard nothing but good things about the Polar Bear and Duck from their training instructor. Bark, the polar bear, had pale yellow fur and royal blue eyes. Even in the nicely central heated command centre of Area 99, he wore a green scarf, thick black gloves and a red bobble hat. He had said nothing since sitting down at the table with his arms crossed and chin pressed against his chest. In fact, the President was beginning to wonder if he'd fallen asleep. Bean was almost the opposite, with thick green feathers, some mounted into a frill on the top of his head. He almost reminded the President of a green version of Daffy Duck. He had been talking none stop with those around the table.

"Dude, it's an honour." Bean said I a rush shaking Sonic hand, although the blue hedgehog himself was not quite sure how he'd ended up talking to him anyway.

"Hey Omega, long time no see, you look especially shiny today." Rouge began, leaning one of the robots large arms. "Did one of the tech's give you a wax?" Unbeknownst to Rouge, the tech's had done a lot more than simply coat him in turtle wax. Hidden inside his body was now several missile firing compartments, already loaded and ready for action. His steal talons had been made far more effective and useful in battle.

"Agent Topaz was beginning to wonder where you had gone." He replied in his normal flat, emotionless voice. Rouge, who hadn't seen her old partner for a while, hissing in through her teeth.

"Hope the old gal wasn't too angry." He added playfully. Omega's large yellow head swerved to look directly down at her.

"She said that if she ever got her hands on you she would forcibly extract a…"

"That's quiet enough of that." The President quickly added, gaining everyone's attention and the process bloating out the end of Omega's sentence. "We have s serious situation and we'd like to get it resolved as soon as possible." Sonic yawned and leaned back in his chair. If he'd known there was going to be any talking involved, he'd have volunteered to go help Shadow instead of this. The President ignored his statement of boredom and carried on. "Precisely two days ago, Eggman Empire forces entered the atmosphere and proceeded to the Atlantic ocean." He paused while an agent turned on a slide projector and an image was projected onto the screen behind him. "They then created a formidable defensive perimeter before we could stop them, and now with that perimeter in place, all question of a large scale attack on the Undersea base is out of the question." Sonic had nearly gone to sleep but was quickly revived when Amy kicked him in the back. "What we need you eight to do is to pilot our new stealth Sub, the Fox Trot 1, through that defensive line. Enter his base and then deactivate his security system so we can attack." There was a sudden click and the picture changed to show blue prints of the miniature submarine. It seemed like Tails and Omega were the only ones to pay attention at that point, even Espio looked bored, balancing the point of a shuriken on one finger. The President coughed, gaining their attention again. "I realize that some of you aren't too found of covert operations and that this kind of tactics isn't you style, but this is probably the only way we're going to get an early shot as stopping this madman."

"How about once I we get inside the base, we chasm everything we see?" Sonic asked rudely, leaning on his hands. The President hesitated.

"Well, that could work too." Bean, Sonic and Espio rubbed their hands in anticipation, while Bark stared at his companion with a strange look on his face and Tails began to wonder if perhaps changing places with Metal Sonic would probably have been a better option.

* * *

The Foundation Organisation was originally started as a military owned company, helping the United States to develop weapons for use in various wars. After several years, it became a dominating financial company in the economy. Its current head of operations was a Mr. Arthur Falcon the 3rd. Who inherited the company from his father, Arthur Falcon the 2nd. The company had divisions in nearly everything that could be considered profitable, from new military technology to the current Chao integration and research program. So far, Chuck had found little in the publicly available information to link these people to the ghoulish things Shadow claimed had attacked him. Quite frankly, Chuck was beginning to think the black and red hedgehog was becoming ever so slightly obsessive.

Metal Sonic, displaying the annoyingly human character of boredom, ad leaning on the table next to the computer, a thick wire leading from his main engine, recharging his energy cells. Several of the adaptations and improvements that Chuck had installed on him could not be sustained by the robots own built in generator, so every few days he would have to recharge himself. The robot was slightly resentful of being kept inside, although he understood full well that he was not the most popular person around here after the whole Egg fleet thing and they were still trying to figure out exactly who had tipped off the authorities while he was being repaired.

"Wait, go back." Shadow suddenly snapped as Chuck scrolled down through the information he had been able to acquire. Chuck hesitated, looking back at him over his shoulder, before scrolling up, revealing the image of a Chinese Dragon. Shadow had seen it before.

* * *

"It resists."

"As expected."

"Initiate subjugation plan alpha." Without warning they swept forward like shadows disappearing across a field during sunset. It was like fighting the very darkness itself, Shadow's kicks, punches and energy attack just didn't have any effect, yet they were able to hurt him. Their plan was obviously clear, these constant attack were meant to simply tire him out. Apparently, they did not want him damaged. What annoyed Shadow was that he could tell these…things weren't very strong physically speaking, their blows hardly left any damage. What they relied on was their immunity to his attacks, using that to wear him down.

Eventually, he managed to gain control of this brawl and was narrowly avoiding the nearly invisible swipes using his in-human agility. There was timing involving in all this, these things could turn themselves solid and **punch-able **but only when they went for an attack. With this in mind, Shadow waited for an opening. They were rare, and when they came they passed too quickly for him to use them to his advantage, but still he waited. He kept his eyes on one of them, waiting patiently for it's time to swing. As it came forward with several others for an attack, Shadow spun around in mid air and fired a chaos Spear directly into the chest as it raised a arm to strike him. Proving his theory correct, his attack struck him in full force and the attacker was thrown by the sheer magnitude over the ground, landing with a loud thud against the desert sand. The others, seeing this display, quickly hovered backwards as their injured companion pulled himself up with a great deal of effort. His cloak and clothes underneath had been burned away on his chest, revealed a tattoo on his skin. A Chinese dragon with its entire length wrapped around the chest, it's open mouth towered the neck.

* * *

It was exactly the same as the tattoo, the one he'd seen after tearing the cloak from one of them. There was no mistaking it; it was completely identical in ever detail.

"What this?" Chuck asked in surprise. "It's the Foundation's original logo; its original owners were eastern millionaires. When the US military bought them out, they changed their logo to what it is today." A cruel smile crossed Shadow's face. Chuck suddenly got the hint. "You mean…"He turned back to stare at it. "That's the mark you saw?"

"Unmistakeable." Shadow replied. Chuck was left staring open mouthed. That didn't make any sense. Sure the Foundation could claim ownership over project Shadow if they wanted to; they were its legitimate financial backers after all. But why would they bother? There was little project to be made by capturing the only remaining source of the Project, Shadow himself. "This links my attackers to the Foundation. My intuition is never wrong." Metal Sonic leaned on his elbow, giving him a coy look.

"Sounds more like a lucky guess." Shadow narrowed his eyes at him threateningly, a small ball of chaos energy forming between his fingers as the start of a Chaos spear attack.

"Well Ok. Maybe this is slightly suspicious." Chuck began, running his hands over the keyboard, saving all the data for access later "But let's not fly off the bat before we gather more information. If could be possible that your assailant simply copied their old logo for a tattoo." Shadow didn't say anything for a moment, before adding with a devious smile…

"But it's also possible that he could be working for the Foundation?" Chuck looked at him blankly.

"Yes that is a possibility. Which is why we're going to do a little more detective work before we throw ourselves into the abyss." He quickly brought up some more of the information he'd been able to acquire. "The Foundation's office building is situated in the high rise region of Station Square. It's where they store all their files and written documents." He pulled up a picture of a large sky scrapper with the Foundation modern logo, a steal grey arrow head encircled by two triangles, one eclipsing the other, upon its top. "Details of everything from business transactions to employ registrations are kept here. If the Foundation are the ones who sent those, er…people…after you, then details of it' will have to be in there." Chuck's fingers paused, shrugging. "Although if they were, Id doubt they'd be stupid enough to file it. Of course, it's our best lead." Shadow ignored Chuck's statement, already thinking back. He remembered when he was standing before the invisible force the Echidna's called Krish-Kra-Pal, and it claimed it was responsible for his existence.

* * *

****

"Embrace me Shadow." The presence demanded this time, looming over him, like it was extending a pair of hands around him, preparing to snatch him up in it's grasp. **"I am your destiny."** Shadow felt sick to his stomach, the words spoken were empty and hollow, doing little to disguise their speakers true nature. Shadow could, see, right through them to this monstrosity. It was what he saw that made him so sick. A mind so full of darkness and emptiness that for a moment he began to doubt his own perceptions of the world. It was trying to force it's way from the outside and directly in to him, and it's presence around him was literally pushing him out. It was trying to replaced his mind with it's.

An image of his old friend, the girl with sea blue eyes and blonde hair flashed before the black hedgehog's eyes and whatever striking hold this thing had over him evaporated.

"I don't care who you are, or what you claim, or what you've done or are going to do." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. The insides beginning to burn with chaos energy. "I am not your property. I make my own destiny!" He closed his eyes and turned inward, tapping into his own power, the residual energy of the chaos emeralds their power had left in him. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He screamed, throwing his arms out and instantly his body was engulfed by a white ball of the purest light, forcing the threatening presence away from him.

"NO!!!!" The voice shrieked, trying desperately to snatch as him, but found itself being pushed further and further away.

* * *

The things that had attacked claimed that they had funded project Shadow, so could there be some kind of a connection?

"You coming Metal?" He asked, turning to give the robotic hedgehog a glance over his shoulder as Metal withdrew the ire from the wall, retracting it back into his body.

"Batteries all charged up." He replied, pushing himself to his feet. _"Can I asked you a question?" _Shadow paused for a moment, before nodding. _"I've been trying to get Sonic and his friends to expect me. I've succeeded with Sonic, but well, he's Sonic. , you know what he's like. The others are still cowering in fear of me, although I don't blame them, it is annoying." _The black hedgehog looked like, what he though for a moment was regret in the black visor that served as Metal Sonic's eyes. _"You were once considered their enemy, like me. How did you gain their trust?" _That proved to be a far more difficult question to answer than Shadow would have originally thought. He hadn't really noticed, or tried for that matter to gain anyone's trust. All he'd been trying to do since awakening on Prison Island had been to find out the truth about himself. Sonic and the others may have helped out of pity, or compassion. Or both. Metal Sonic's case was somewhat different, all he had tried to do was satisfy his unquenchable thirst for power. Scratching for an answer, he just came up with…

"Time is all that's needed." It was a cliché, hurriedly though up reply, but Metal Sonic seemed to buy it. "So are we going or what?"

* * *

Three air craft carries belonged to the United States military was poised just outside of the defensive, undersea perimeter Dr. Eggman had built to keep his base undisturbed. Each one had a hundred G.U.N robots and walkers waiting for activation inside. Of course, with that perimeter in place, any sort of attack would fail.

"This is Fox trot1." One of the Technician announced once Sonic and the others were down up on deck. The submarine was small, only about twice the size as some of the fighter planes around them and hocks were being attached to its top, preparing to lower it into the water. It was oval shaped like an egg, but with three long, thin tails on the back, a propeller in between them. By its sleek design, it was obvious that this vessel was built for stealth; it didn't however look like it could move very fast. The G.U.N logo was printed on both sides of its steal grey hull.

"Nice coffin." Sonic stated, looking over it sceptically. This really wasn't his style; he was a land creature in every respect. He didn't do water, which was probably, he realized, why Eggman built his latest base under the sea.

Rouge cringed when he saw someone familiar in a military navy blue uniform talking to some technicians.

"Ah nuts." Topaz turned around, saw her old partner and formed a frown. Rouge knew that she was in for it now.

"And just where were you?" The human demanded, smacking the bat on the back of the head. "I had half the department looking for you." Rouge simply smiled sheepishly at her, scratch her back of her head with her right hand in a very Sonic like gesture.

"Would you believe in the ancient past?" Topaz narrowed an eye sceptically, before shrugging.

"If you're going to go on vacation, you should at least notify us first."

It actually took a Amy holding her hammer at his back to keep Sonic from running away as they boarded the submarine. Tails couldn't wait to actually get his first glimpse at the controls, stars in his eyes as Bean showed him the short controls that sat directly in front of a plastic arched window, capable of withstanding high water pressure. There was a small chamber towards the back that was large enough to house Omega, as long as he stayed in compact, mobile mode.

"You're certainly not what I imagined." Bark stated as he and Sonic climbed inside the compact vessel, quickly followed by Amy with hammer in hand. "You look taller on TV."

"They say the camera adds ten pounds." Sonic replied with a large goofy grin, trying hide his nervousness as Bean, at the controls, began the submarines decent. The Hedgehog cringed, almost as if he could feel the water all around him. He managed however to keep a level head, despite the fact that all that was separating him from countless tones of crushing seawater was a few inches of steal and several centimetres of hardened plastic. To take his mind of it, he took the time to give Bark a proper look over. He was somewhat larger than the average mobian, standing a good head and shoulders above the hedgehog's own height;. His fur was a thick white, on the verge of a pale yellow. His eyes were hardened grey and Sonic's eyes were just sharp enough to notice a small scar underneath the thick fur of his left cheek. A thick, woolly green scarf was wrapped tightly around his neck and a woolly, red bobble hand sitting on the top of his head. A shaggy, mane like thick of hair sprouting out the back of his head and running down his back. His arms seemed to be made of pure muscle underneath the fur. "So when did you and the green Daffy duck over there…" Sonic began, gesturing to Bean who was trying to stave over a curious Tails. "End up working for G.U.N?" The Polar bear chucked, as if experienced some personal joke.

"We volunteered." He replied. "We sort of lost our previous occupations when the worlds merged and we had to come up with employment somewhere. The Government was hiring, their pay is over five figures a month and here we are. Off to the bottom of the ocean to fight some madman." Sonic hadn't heard the last bit.

"Five figures a month?" He asked suddenly.

* * *

Preparations complete, the ascent began. Eggman could feel the ground beneath his feet as he watched the outside ocean from the comfort of his throne in the control room. Decoe and Becoe running all over the place, trying to keep everything in order. This new little project of the good doctor's was rising towards the surface of the ocean at an incredible rate. Since they started inside a deep trench, shielding them from G.U.N radar, it would take them another twenty minutes before they surfaced.

"Doctor, we have an object on long range sensors." Eggman looked back over his shoulder toward the robotic henchman and the radar screen behind it. There was indeed a small object approaching from the surface. A large grin crossed the doctor's face.

"Ah." He exclaimed, putting his fingers together, his eyes gleaming in anticipation. "Right on time."

* * *

Bean, after being nagged for five minutes, finally let Tails take the controls, and imminently Sonic felt his breakfast come back to haunt him as the vessel rocked back and forth in the hands of an inexperienced pilot.

Espio, whose mind was else ware, hardly notice. He was too busy admiring the shuriken he was holding between two fingers, his reflection visible in the metal's surface. He was playing with it through his fingers like a coin, flicking it up into the air at one point and then catching it again. He wouldn't actually be here unless a large sum of money hadn't bee promised to help keep the Chaotix detective agency afloat. They owed a lot of money here and there and this went a long way to paying off their debts. There was a sudden vibration and the entire craft seemed to tip to one side.

"Ok, that wasn't me, I swear." Tails began as Bean took the controls back.

"That came from below." Bark stared, already to his feet. Rouge, Amy and Espio were already at the front, staring out the plastic window at something. The others followed their gaze, their mouths dropping open in astonishment. A colossal, dark shape had sudden raised itself from the depths below them, thousands of blinking lights from what could only be windows reached out from the darkness. As it rose, it was pushing the water above it upward, making the Fox Trot 1, rock from side to side uncontrollably.

"Sonic, you're about as predictable as they get." A voice suddenly stated over the radio, one they all recognised in an instant.

"You knew we were coming Eggman?" Sonic began in exclamation.

"Of course I knew. You always turn up at some point." Dr. Eggman had been anticipating a visit from his rival for some time now. In fact, Sonic was late according to his estimations. "Impressive? I do hope so." He asked as Sonic look out at the giant shape in front of them. "Allow me to introduce to you my latest battleship, the Egg Carrier 3." The darkness in front of them was now obvious a solid shape, with thousands of gleaming lights running over its surface. It seemed to fill the entire field of vision out of every window and then it was realized that the ship was rising from underneath them. "I pride myself on my engineering handiwork. This particular piece took my seven whole days none stop to design." Sonic smirked.

"You really need to get a life." He said with a wide grin. Eggman, on the other end of the line, shrugged his shoulders.

"Ok. Yours will do nicely." He ran his fingers over the key command console in front of him, all his teeth showing as his smile began to widen. "I can't imagine that dingy little sub of yours came compete with the firepower my vessel can produce." The statement was ominous through them all, confirmed as true when Bean tried to bring the Sub marine sharply around to starboard to avoid any attack, the actual vessel itself moving unbearably slow, certainly not enough speed to avoid a torpedo, which was exactly what Eggman had coming right up, the robotic crew down in firing room one already finished loading, the Fox Trot one in the evil mad man's cross heirs.

"So then, this is it. I'll truly miss our rivalry. So let me take a moment to remember it." Eggman breathed in deeply, sighing out through his mouth. "Alright that's long enough, bah-bye." There was a clicking sound as Eggman pressed a button and the water around the entire ship seemed to vibrate as a torpedo was fired from somewhere in front of them. Sonic's legendary speed could do little to help any of them now, and even with Bean at the helm, the Fox Trot 1 was slow in the water. They could see it now, streaming towards them as the Egg Carrier 3 continued to rise to the surface. Every instinct is Sonic's entire body was telling him to do something, preferably fast, but just what could he do? He was trapped inside here, along with everyone else.

It was then that he realized his greatest fear was about to come to pass. He was about to die at sea.

Eggman turned his back on the screen as the torpedo impacted and tiny fragments of metal were blow out into the water. The shock wave passed through the water, making the floor beneath his feet shake. After all the defeats, all the set backs, all the frustrating battles, he'd finally accomplished the one thing he though near impossible. He turned back to see that all that lay outside now was a few floating bits of metallic shell, the thin traces of oil and scrapped yellow paint still drifting in a thin cloud.

"Confirm?" The scientist asked Decoe, who was already by the radar screen.

"Reading no life signs amongst the wreckage sir." The robot replied, looking up briefly. Eggman leaned back in his chair, a wide smile on his face. His hands pressed each other's fingers. He knew that it was traditional for him at this point to let his roll back and scream with evil laughter, but he really didn't feel like it. He had prevailed over the Hedgehog finally, but he had rather expected more of a climatic end to his rival.

* * *

"Sir." Topaz began, shock plain on her face as the President turned to look at her. "We've just lost radar contact with Fox Trot 1." Before the President could react, there was a loud crashing sound from outside as the water before them began to heave upward was as colossal object at least ten times the size of the air craft carrier began to rise up. The water began to forth and boil; causing the ship to rock to the side as the peak of Eggman's latest monstrosity. All those on board could watch in amazement and horror as the Egg Carrier 3, a giant flying ship twice the size of its two predecessors, loomed in the sky above them, a thin rain of sea water falling fro the sky as the titan hovered for a moment to allow the access weight to be deposited. Like the two Egg Carriers before it, its underbelly had a forest of laser turrets sprouting away from it. On top, just in front of the bridge ran several runways each one with at least two dozen updated Egg fleet fighter planes just waiting to be launched at a moments notice.

It's massive wings, folded against it's side, served as two colossal shields on either side and like it's underbelly, these had laser turrets lining their outside as well. Branded on either side was the Eggman Empire's symbol, the face of Eggman himself. At it's direct front that tapped of compared to the massive collection of thrusters at it's back, lay the same triangular front made of armour metallic alloy, hidden within which was an extremely powerful weapon, which only Eggman himself knew about.

"Well." Eggman began, his sensors onboard already telling him of the air craft carrier's presence. "It seems we have a welcoming committee." He turned around in his chair to face a com station. "Oh Emerl. I have a job for you." On the tip of the Egg Carrier's tapering front end stood the black Emerl, the robot Eggman had created using parts and data from the original AI combat unit that he had been able to salvage. It's skin black and gold instead of orange. Several plates of armour places upon it's arms and legs. One large sea blue eye glaring down from a third eyepiece directly in the centre of it's forehead, above a set of glowing red optics. The robot turned to look down at the flimsy collection of ships that paled in both power and size to the Egg Carrier 3. The order was received, and that order was, Destroy.

* * *

(In Chris voice)

Oh no! What's happened to Sonic and his friends, has Eggman finally won?! Find out next time on Sonic X, Rise of Giant Wing. Don't miss it!


	15. Episode 8, part 1

* * *

S.O.NI.C GO!

S.O.N.IC GO!

GO, GO ,GO ,GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

Last time on Sonic X:

* * *

"Impressive? I do hope so." He asked as Sonic look out at the giant shape in front of them. "Allow me to introduce to you my latest battleship, the Egg Carrier 3." The darkness in front of them was now obvious a solid shape, with thousands of gleaming lights running over its surface. It seemed to fill the entire field of vision out of every window and then it was realized that the ship was rising from underneath them. "I pride myself on my engineering handiwork. This particular piece took my seven whole days none stop to design." Sonic smirked.

"You really need to get a life." He said with a wide grin. Eggman, on the other end of the line, shrugged his shoulders.

"Ok. Your's will do nicely." He ran his fingers over the key command console in front of him, all his teeth showing as his smile began to widen. "I can't imagine that dingy little sub of yours came compete with the firepower my vessel can produce." The statement was ominous through them all, confirmed as true when Bean tried to bring the Sub marine sharply around to starboard to avoid any attack, the actual vessel itself moving unbearably slow, certainly not enough speed to avoid a torpedo, which was exactly what Eggman had coming right up, the robotic crew down in firing room one already finished loading, the Fox Trot one in the evil mad man's cross heirs.

"So then, this is it. I'll truly miss our rivalry. So let me take a moment to remember it." Eggman breathed in deeply, sighing out through his mouth. "Alright that's long enough, bah-bye." There was a clicking sound as Eggman pressed a button and the water around the entire ship seemed to vibrate as a torpedo was fired from somewhere in front of them. Sonic's legendary speed could do little to help any of them now, and even with Bean at the helm, the Fox Trot 1 was slow in the water. They could see it now, streaming towards them as the Egg Carrier 3 continued to rise to the surface. Every instinct is Sonic's entire body was telling him to do something, preferably fast, but just what could he do? He was trapped inside here, along with everyone else.

It was then that he realized his greatest fear was about to come to pass. He was about to die at sea.

* * *

Episode 8: Rise of Giant Wing

There was a spilt second before the torpedo screaming in their faces exploded, not enough time to think rationally, but thinking rationally had never been Sonic's defining attribute. Without a single second of hesitation, he tried again the very same thing he had tried again onboard the space colony ARK, but had been too scared to try it again. Shadow made it look so easy, but for Sonic, one who was unused to the rippling power flowing through his body, it took a tremendous amount of concentration and willpower it order to pull it off.

The torpedo exploded. There was a green haze, and Eggman sneered as he saw his greatest foe disappear in a row of scorched metal.

--------------------------------

Egg Carrier 3 was by far the most powerful battleship the scientist had come up with. It's potential fire power even exceeding that of the downed Flagship of the Egg fleet and the was more than happy to reveal that as he opened fire on the three air craft carries as they tried to launch their robot piloted planes and then when that failed, their Beetle units came pouring out of hanger doors, massing like a thick storm of robotic insects. They never got a chance to launch an attack. Emerl Mrk 2 proved to be just as fast and deadly as it's predecessor. It's jump nearly made it fly through the air, spiralling down towards it's enemy. Many Beetle units tried to intercept it as it came only, only to have their entire frames ripped to pieces. Emerl was a robotic solider capable to dishing out several punches and kicks within a few seconds, and it managed to pull the entire stunt off while spinning in mid air.

It landed on the edge of the first air craft carrier with a loud thud, trailed one arm into the air, paused to gather strength, and then smashed a fist right down through the floor. The entire ship shook violently, and then after a single moment of silence, a cracked line lanced right down the middle of the ship, splitting it in half. As Emerl leapt up into the air again, the entire ship fell to two sides crashing into the ocean, sailors and navy officers jumping into the sea to save their lives.

"That robot just took out an entire air craft carrier with a single punch!" The president stated, eyes wide in horror. "Where's that blasted back up I was promised?!" Already, every G.U.N base within a radius of five miles was deploying as many battle mechanical walkers as they could, all heading directly for the President's co-ordinates.

* * *

The Sky deck section of the Egg Carrier 3 was basically it's top bottom, surface. It was a near forest of turrets and long metallic catwalks. It was the most busy place on the entire ship, with technician bots racing out ever five minutes to help fix any damage or repair any malfunctioning turrets.

A faint light flicked about several meters above the ground, before one by one, they manifested back into physical form, thrown violently forward onto a suspended catwalk underneath the belly of the ship, a very long drop below them. as the unstable chaos control warp began to dissipate, finally closing when Sonic's limp body fell slid out of it.

"That felt weird." Espio began, rubbing his back.

Sonic gasped, his breath coming out labour, dragging up his throat as he collapsed to the floor. Chaos Control was tiring enough without having to drag seven companions along with him. He had barley managed to teleport himself when Eggman had ejected from the ARK inside a space capsule, and even then he'd been left drained. This left much worse, like the energy he needed to survive had all but gone. If he hadn't been using the Crystal ring he had around his wrist, he'd be dead already. He couldn't even here the calls of the pink hedgehog kneeling beside him, or feel her hand on his back as he tried to stir him. He could feel his heart beat slowing down to a slow crawl. His eyes were growing dark and suddenly everything felt very cold. He wanted to pull himself into a ball for warmth by lacked the strength for it.

"Stand clear." Someone said as something smacked him on the back very hard, yet instead of causing pain something inside him jump started. Feeling returned to his limbs and now he could quite a lot of pain. Yelping he was on his feet in an instant, rubbing his back. Someone behind the blue hedgehog dared to giggle, until he turned around to give them a fierce glare.

"Ok, who's the wise guy?" He asked, narrowing an eye angrily. Bean crossed his arms.

"This wise guy just saved your ungrateful life." He shot back. Sonic gritted his teeth, still rubbing the stinging spot where the duck had smacked him up.

"Just where are we?" Rouge began, looking around for an explanation.

"You don't want the answer to that question." Tails replied, pocking his head out across the large metallic catwalk they had opened out from, staring down the entire length of the Egg Carrier 3 that nearly seemed to go one forever. The surface of the sea became a faint tinge of blue below them as thick, ugly black clouds of smoke beginning to thicken from the giant engines not too far above their heads.

"Hostile Units detected." Omega announced, twitching to humanoid as he righted himself up. "Fifty meters and closing." As if being heralded several flight capable DreadNaughts came swooping down from a large metal cargo bay door that opened up further down the catwalk. They'd been called out because the security motion sensors that picked up possible intruders on the technician walkways. As soon as they were outside, that report was confirmed as their targeting systems caught Sonic in their crosshairs.

"Ok, time to…" Before Sonic could even finish his sentence, his strength left him again and he was on his knees.

"Sonic are you ok?" Amy asked, trying to help him up again. Whatever boast he had momentarily gained had apparently worn of, leaving Sonic fatigued again.

"I've...certainly been...better!" he began to push out through gritted teeth as the Dreadnaughts swung around, already in attack mode. None of Dr. Eggman's robots ever took prisoners.

Omega's arms swung up and the very spit second they reached the right angle, streams of bullets coursed from his now parallel fingers. Riddling one of the robots with so any holes, part of it fell off and tumbled towards the sea, quickly followed by the rest of it.

"Ok people. New mission directive." Bark announced, pushing his way to the front as the remaining two Dreadnaughts paused, almost as if they were looking back at their fallen companion. "First we take care of these two, then we shut this ship down. Eggman's base can wait." An evil grin forced it; way onto Sonic's face.

"Fine, just give me a minute to recharge will ya?" Bark looked back toward him, gave a thumbs up over his shoulder, before turning and throwing himself through the air with impressive strength. The Dreadnaughts didn't even have a chance to move out of the way as the polar bear brought a fist straight across the head of one of them, knocking it clean off.

While Bark was busy tearing into them, Sonic was trying to recover the vital energy he'd lost, which was actually easier than it sounded. To use a Chaos Control teleport of that magnitude, he'd had to give quite a lot of his own energy up, so to recover it he had to create a loop hole within himself. This sounded complicated, and Sonic was sure Chuck would love to spend hours thinking up theories, but in truth the process of simple. Once a link was established between his own life force and the chaos energy that existed within him and well, feeling began to return to his empty limbs.

Bark was so busy finishing of one of them; he nearly didn't see the lunge coming at him from behind from a thick metal fist. As he turned to confront it, a metal hammer came flying out of nowhere, striking the robot across the face, knocking the entire thing backward. Amy caught her hammer on the rebound, heaved it into the air and proceeded to deal a series of swings directly into the torso and legs, trying to destroy any points to the limbs. The robot however withstood the blows, before bringing an arm around, knocking her pink hedgehog sideways over the balcony. Sonic tried to move, but found he still didn't have the strength. Just as she went over, a small metal ball with a chain attached shot out from nowhere, wrapped one end of itself around her leg, saving her from a very long fall down. Espio's hands held tightly to the other end.

"I've got her." He managed to say, finding that Amy was heavier than she looked.

"Come on Omega, let's leave these guys to it and complete the mission." Rouge said, motioning to the robot, before turning with her wings open, souring off down the catwalk away from them. Omega actually seemed to hesitate, before following. Sonic wasn't even conscious of their departure, he was nearly fully charged again. Just a few more seconds to go and then…his eyes shot open. The full green glow restored to his eyes. There, full power again.

Quickly he was back on his feet, helping Amy back over the edge.

"My hero…"Amy began with a coy smile. Sonic's eyebrows levelled.

"Let's not start that now." He added, before back flipping over the Dreadnaught and then coming straight through it in a spin attack, ripping out the wires and cables inside its metal body. "Maybe later though." He added with the slightest hint of s blush to his checks, before racing off.

* * *

"Doctor!" Decoe nearly screamed as soon as a report was sent forward to his console. "The Hedgehog's still alive, and on the ship!" Eggman nearly pole-vaulted out of his seat when the robotic henchman brought the report up on screen, showing a blue blur as it tore through a flying DreadNaught, knocking it out of the air. Sonic paused long enough to give a security camera a thumbs up, before smashing into it with a spin attack.

"I'm also counting another seven intruders on various decks. Three of them have been identified as E123: Omega, Amy Rose and Miles Prowler!" More screens showed the intruders dealing huge amounts of damage to the robotic security force unboard.

"What!" Eggman demanded; his mouth hung open as he saw the blue creature sour across the deck of his ship on another video feed, smashing through turrets with ease, tearing his way through any DreadNaught that got in his way. "I should have known it wouldn't have been that easy!" He snarled, smashing a fist into the side of his chair. Why was that rodent always in the way? Why couldn't he just be a good little hedgehog and die? It was time for Sonic to learn that full extent of Egg Carrier 3's destructive potential. "Oh that is the last straw." He snarled as Sonic ploughed through one of his largest turrets, several inactive fighter planes and trashed one technician bots as it raced out to attend to repairs. Eggman sat back down and ran his fingers over the small mesh of buttons on each arm rest, overriding safety protocols and engaging the weapon he'd installed, drawing on the power of the two chaos emeralds he'd tucked safely away inside the Egg Carrier 3's generator room.

"Emerl!" He snarled down a com link. "Get back here at once, you deal with my hedgehog problem and I'll finish off those G.U.N amateurs."

* * *

Two missiles took the large shutter door out of his frame, throwing it's smouldering remains into the room as Omega, quickly followed by Rouge, burst in. The Dreadnaughts inside turned to face them, but got showered with bullets before they could put up a decent fight, and a swift kick from Rouge finished them of. With now specific target in mind, everything that looked the slightest bit important became a target and within moments Omega had ever piece of machinery burning.

Just as Rouge was about to wrok her magic on the computer system, a booming voice called from the darkness at the back end of the chamber.

"I am Omicron." It stated before a giant metal hand flew out of the dark. A fist, five foot tall fist smashing straight into Omega, sending the robot flying into the wall. "_You are Omega, E100 series prototype. Obsolete model."_ It added as a giant shape stepped forward, the ground shaking with each foot step. Rouge looked up at the metal giant with a huge armour chest plate, giant arms with huge talons. A ring of spikes around it's wrists. A small head, hidden just between two large metal spikes from ran out from the neckline. Omega, who'd been lying in a small pile of rubble for the last few moments, pushed a large metal sheet of him and stood up. This new robotic giant at least ten times his size.

"Rouge, carry out mission." E123 stated, Rouge looked at him, then at his giant adversary. At first glance, anyone might thing Omega was about to get every limb torn from his metal torso. But Rouge had seen Omega in battle and he was more than capable of taking care of himself against increasingly dangerous odds. Her wings spread and she was gone.

Omega's arms swung around in a 180 degree angle, firing round after round of bullets straight into Omicron's visual receptors, forcing the larger robot to let go. As is stumbled backwards, temporarily blinded, E123 took the opportunity to launch five missiles from his hidden launcher bays, each on striking Omicron across its large bulk. By now, its optics system was back online and the giant seemed ticked off.

The giant robots strength and fire power far superior to his own, Omega reverted to evasion tactics. Trying to circle around, avoiding to the fatal swings of the arms and the missile fire, trying to locate a weak spot. Eggman's robots usually had one somewhere, it was just a matter of hitting the right spot. Luckily however, Eggman had not made this robot faster than him. In fact, its movements were extremely slow. As if it was struggling against its own weight, which Omega knew he could work to his advantage.

As bullets filled the air, Rouge kept her head down as he tried to glide as low to the floor as possible.

* * *

Sonic put one foot in front of the other and came to a halt, a single android standing in his way.

A pair of glowing red eyes and a larger, blue one directly above them. Black armour rimmed by golden streaks, metal fists clenched at the android's sides. Three golden spikes running along it's head and similar spikes on his forearms and shins.

"Emerl!" Sonic began as the robot swung a punch forward. The blue hedgehog caught in the blow with his left hand, but left himself defenceless for the painful kick that that data android dealt straight to his stomach. Sonic was thrown backwards, his feet scrapping the floor.

That was one of Rouge's kicks, one of her best in fact, good enough to leave Sonic's entire arm feeling numb. This was Emerl alright, either that or his big brother. He shook it to regain feeling, before regaining a fighting stance. Emerl took the first move with one of Knuckles' punches, which Sonic dodged, bringing his leg down and across in a sweeping motion trying to knock the robots feet out from under him. Emerl simply jumped, swung his leg section around in a complete circle, finally landing a kick directly into Sonic's face. It felt like he'd been hit with a car going five hundred miles an hour and then came the floor. Sonic's breath was knocked out of him as he landed face first on the cold metal surface of the Egg Carrier 3's deck.

"Ok." He began, his voice muffled. "Let's try that again." He wiped his mouth as he pushed himself up, a patch of crimson on the back of his glove. Emerl's third eye glowed bright blue, before he came racing in with several punches. All of which Sonic managed to contour before head butting him, smashing a kick into his mid section and the while the robot was stunned, curved his body around in a spin that threw Emerl completely across the Egg Carrier 3's deck and out of sight.

Sonic knew better than to think that the robot would be finished off that easily, and kept on his guard, which was about all that saved him from another kick to the face as Emerl came at him from behind. Sonic caught the leg with both arm, turned and swung the entire robots body into the floor.

"You know, Cream never forgave you for turning on us like that." Sonic managed to say between torn out breaths as he paused to catch his breath. The robot looked up sharply for a second, Sonic was almost fooled into thinking in he was a mixture of shame, fear and compassion in those three eyes. Before that is, Emerl short forward and sent him flying to the floor with a super strong punch.

Hardly a fan for sucker punches, especially ones that cracked his teeth, Sonic's entire body spun around and he managed to deal two kicks to his chest, sending him flying into the air. Tapping into the small amount of power left in the crystal ring, the blue hedgehog leapt into the air, coming level with the android's body. He clenched both fists behind his head, before swinging both arms down hard. The blow sending him crashing into the Egg Carrier's deck.

As soon as he landed, Emerl rebounded catching Sonic completely by surprise. He Didn't even see the blow strike him across the head. All Sonic remembered after feeling a sharp pain on his forehead, was waking up back on the ground with Emerl standing over him, a fist held ready over his head. Sonic yelped and rolled to the side, avoiding a punch that cracked the Egg Carrier's deck. That could have been my head, the blue hedgehog realized just before Emerl swung another kick.

"You've been working out." Sonic groaned, dodging to the side at the last second, before retaliating with a flurry of kicks. Emerl easily managed to side step through them, before a fist came swinging down on top of Sonic's head. Sonic rebounded off the floor, his nose bleeding, swinging his entire body around to face the robot. His hands caught Emerl by the ankles, tossing him up into the air. The robot simply righted himself in mid fall and before Sonic could react, the robot aimed a clenched fist right at him and that fist flew right off his arm, connecting with Sonic's face in a moment, flooring him.

This being one of the many times during the fight he'd ended up on the floor, Sonic was by now, in a foul mood. Back flipping back to his feet as Emerl's hand flew back to it's normal position, Sonic leapt into the and with a flying kick sent Emerl spiralling off the side of the Egg Carrier. Sonic paused to catch his breath again as the robot disappeared. There was a small clicking sound and two metallic fists curved upwards from just beyond Sonic's line of sight and took hold of his arms. Sonic struggled to free himself, but the grip was unbreakable. Emerl's body rose up; his arms stretched outward, a pair of thrusters from his feet keeping him floating.

The hands dragged Sonic over to the edge, keeping him dangerous close to a fatal fall. Sonic couldn't get good enough friction on the floor to use his speed to push himself forward to safety. Emerl gestured lightly with his arms and the hands tossed the blue hedgehog over the edge. There was a short as he fell and then he disappeared.

Emerl's hands returned to their arms and the robot lowered himself back down to the deck. Pausing only briefly, he walked over to the side of the deck to make sure that he had accomplished his mission. As soon as he stuck his head over the edge, Sonic came rocketing upwards in a super spin, knocking Emerl head over heals.

"You're going to have to do a lot better than that." The blue hedgehog remarked as he straightened himself up. The robot stared at him silently as it's entire bvody twisted it different directions, on it's feet in no time.

"Emerl." Doctor Eggman's voice began to buzz in the Emerl's ear piece all of a sudden. "Get away from the cannon point. I can't afford to have you blown up right now." The roobt looked back to see exactly we he and Sonic were on the Egg Carrier, and he found that they was dangerous close to the front tip of the ship. Sonic paused, noticing that for the first time, Emerl wasn't paying attention to the fight, leaving himself completely open to attack. Sonic tried to take advantage of the moment, but Emerl proved too agile, evading the intending kick by stepping to the side and then back flipping to a safe distance.

Sonic felt like every bone in his body was near its breaking point, yet somehow he managed to keep a fighting stance.

Emerl simply stared the blue hedgehog, all three of his eyes glowing bright red, before he somersaulted over Sonic, and raced off at speeds rivalling those Sonic could run at. Becoming a blazing black blur.

"Get back here!" Sonic shouted, before racing after him.

* * *

Several missiles projected from a concealed launcher behind Omicron's chest plate, striking the ground where Omega had been a moment ago.

Omicron's small head pivoted round, its target gone from its scopes. Eggman had designed Omicron for overwhelming power and strength. However he had forgotten to give the giant any tactical and strategic intelligence. And so it failed to notice Omega come down sharply from above, sinking it's talons into the back of its head. Omicron felt the sting and tried to reach around to pry the smaller robot off, but it's arms were too large and bulky, incapable to bending enough. It managed however to thrash around a lot and Omega nearly busted a circet breaker in his arm trying to hold on.

He drew one arm upward and slammed it down, his talons sank into the metal armour, tearing it open. Revealing Omicron's brain, an entangled mess of wires and cables and below them, dozens of large oiled gears all churning together with a loud groan echoing up through the hole. The giant thrashed about, trying to shake Omega of it, but by now it was too late. Omega fired two missiles down into its body, before leaping off as a pillar of flame shot back up through it. Omicron's body stopped moving and then shock violently, shattering its right arm to flaming metallic pieces.

Omicron wavered for a moment, before crashing to the floor, becoming a piled heap of flaming wreckage. Omega straightened himself up, standing amongst the flames, holding one large metal hand up in victory.

Obsolete indeed, he though to himself, his large red eyes staring down at the burnt remains of Omicron's head, before sliding into mobile mode and gliding off.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Giant Wing

Age: Several months

Weight: Several thousand tons

Size: (colossal)

Job description: G.U.N's newest creation. A flying battleship of their own.

* * *

(go omega! .)


	16. Episode 8, part2

(Sorry it's a short chap. I do not own Sonic…etc.)

* * *

Flip Card 2:

Name: Egg Carrier 3

Age: Twenty four hours

Size: (Big to say the least.)

Job description: Eggman's latest battleship. Possess twice the destructive power as the two previous Egg Carrier's.

* * *

By now, the G.U.N back up the President had been promised had arrived. The Egg Carrier 3's sensors had picked them up even before the President knew they were on their way. A thick swarm of beetle bots, Flying Dog attack units and flight capable Hot shot frames. The finest troops G.U.N had the immediate area had gathered here, and Eggman wasn't even the slightest bit worried. In fact, he'd been waiting for this very moment so he could show all his enemies at once the colossal magnitude of his genius.

Energy gauges at full, Eggman sneered and smacked his hand down on a button marked…FIRE.

Sonic came to a screeching halt when he noticed a sound groaning through the air and simultaneously the ships deck below his feet began to vibrate. At the front end of the ship, at its red triangular end, large gears in within the ship itself began to turn and the mechanism divided the triangle, parted both half's to one side, revealing the interior. Sonic had seen this before Eggman had fired a similar weapon before. When the X-tornado, which was still in the shop, confronted the giant ship for the second time.

But this was different, jutting right out of the middle of this concealed weapon was a narrow chrome metal spike and a metal cylinder surrounding it, feeding itself back into the ships' interior.

The metal spike within looked very familiar. Sonic recognized it at once as a scaled down version of the pinnacle of the Eclipse Cannon, the destructive weapon onboard the space colony ARK. A grey spike with a fat end, that began to glow bright blue, bolts of lightning like flashes lancing from the spike to the outside cylinder surrounding it. Each level towards its point began to light up and burn with energy as final both halves of the triangular metal end of Egg Carrier had each swung to one side.

"Oh this can not end well." He stated as a bright flare sprung to life within the weapon, blaring with intense white light.

The second air craft carrier caught in it's wake tried to receded out of the line of fire, but was moving far too slow, the blast flew right past it and the ship literally disintegrated. All the G.U.N robots flying straight at the Egg Carrier were caught and they two disappeared, as if replaced by smouldering remains that fell down through like the air like black snow.

The President was left staring in horror as the entire force he'd summoned, disappeared in a flash. Like they'd never even been there. The beam finally subsided and the cannon powered down, a great deal of steal rising from the grey point. There was a groaning and the two doors slid shut with a loud clank.

"Doctor." Decoe began, looking over the destructive results of the cannon fire on his screen. "I didn't even know that weapon had been installed." Eggman pressed his fingers together, a wide grin on his face.

"While on ARK, I took the liberty of copying the Eclipse Cannon's basic design blueprints. I wasn't able to reproduce an exact copy of it, but this size a weapon is far more practical for my needs." This new cannon was a welcome edition to his Egg Carrier. It required far less energy than the original, even through the beam it fared was by far less powerful. Still, this power had limitations. Eggman had been unsuccessful in creating more than one duplicate cannon and even then he had to wait at least five hours in-between firing times for the weapon to cool down.

"There is still one air craft carrier left doctor." Becoe stated as the doctor sat in his chair, drumming his fingers. "Should I have Emerl attack?"

Eggman looked up briefly toward the ship floating on the ocean below, displayed on the main screen.

"Why waste the time and effort?" He asked, dismissing it. His ship was by far superior to that outdated piece of junk. It couldn't do anything to him now.

"What about the Hedgehog Doctor?" The robotic henchman asked again, looking up from his station. "According to our sensors, he's still on the ship. As well as the other intruders." Eggman had nearly forgotten about them, overjoyed to see his cannon finally in operation. "Emerl can handle Sonic I'm certain of that. I'll just have my other boys clean up the rest." He pressed a button on his arm rest and activated a com signal. "Attention E1000 series robots, Sigma, Tau and Theta. We have guests, deal with them."

"We'll give them a warm welcome sir, you can count on that!"

* * *

"Call in Giant Wing." The President said, his eyes never leaving the massive Egg Carrier 3 before them. Everyone around him simply stopped and stared, as if they were unsure of the order. Topaz hesitated and then approached.

"But sir." She began. "Giant wing isn't fully operational yet." The President turned to give her a glare. His eyes filled with fear.

"We have no choice. I want Giant wing here, NOW!"

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Amy asked herself as the ground beneath her feet finally stopped shaking. The entire ship just seemed to lurch to backwards all of the sudden. The others, Tails and those two from the Government, Bean and Bark had gone on ahead. Sonic was racing around doing what he did best; winging it.

The pink hedgehog hadn't seen Rouge or Omega since they got on board. Now alone, she'd wandered into a cargo bay full of giant metal crates and boxes, several large iron hooks used for the loading the unloading of heavy objects hung from the ceiling on huge steal chains. She had found plenty of robot parts scattered around, so Sonic or one of the others had been through here already.

"Intruder, prepare to die!" Something shouted from above and Amy snapped around, her hammer already in hand. She looked up, to see a dark, streamlined shape sanding on top of the pile of containers.

E1003: Sigma was humanoid in appearance, with a long lance protruding from its left arm. Most of the metal armour covering its arms and legs was a steal grey with the Eggman Empire logo branded onto the left chest plate. In the middle of its head was a single black visor eye with a red centre. Amy barley had enough time to dodge as the robot leapt down, driving his lance forward, nearly catching her arm. Using the momentum, she swung her hammer around, the blunt instrument smashing into the robot's back.

Sigma rebounded off the floor, swinging a leg around, a kick landed directly against her side, knocking her sideways. No where near as fast as Sonic, he wasn't able to defend herself as Sigma dived in with a punch to the face.

He rolled a few feet, finally coming to a stop, her eyes forced closed. This robot was surprisingly strong and fast, but she knew she could take it. Using her hammer for support, she pushed herself to her feet, ready to carry on.

Sigma held the blade of the lance across his body, before charging. Using the pole of her hammer to block the attacks and swings, the pink hedgehog tried her best to defend herself. It became apparent that Sigma had a significant advantage of speed, but to achieve this however, it lacked any notable defensive abilities. Amy knew all she had to do to beat this thing was get several good whacks in.

* * *

"Doctor!" Becoe began. "I'm reading a massive object approaching us from the north-west. It's rivalling the Egg Carrier in size." Eggman shot forward in his chair.

"What..." He demanded, but his mouth hung open as the main screen flipped on again, instantly activated as soon as some colossal object breached a one miles perimeter around the ship. A thick bank of cloud was pushing its way toward them, like some terrible storm about to break over their heads. From within the veil, they could see the dark silhouette of a shape beginning to form as it got closer and closer. "… on earth is that?" Eggman continued, turning to the main screen as some colossal vessal that rivalled the Egg Carrier 3 in size began to burst through the clouds.

Project Giant Wing had finally been revealed, G.U.N had spent months perfecting the technology they'd salvaged from the Egg fleet to create this, a giant flying battleship of their own. As it finally pushed its way out of the clouds, its true shape was finally revealed, a colossal arched disc with turrets placed upon large platform stations along the higher outside level. A large, spike like centre directly in the middle, lancing both up and down, missile launcher bays riddled its large bulk. Several jagged spikes, each one over fifty foot in length, jutted out from the dome on the top. A large series of parallel windows marked were the bridge lay, shielded by a row of turrets. G.U.N's G symbol as painted on the side. A series of large wings, riveted to the main bulk ran around the outside edge.

By the vessels huge size and shape, it was apparent it was designed to remain permanently in the air, very much like Angel Island. Four giant levitation engines, only recently developed were attached to its underside, keeping the bronze giant hovering above the ocean. The Captain, A high ranking military officer had Eggman's floating ship in his sights. Every combat system on the ship had Egg Carrier locked into it's crosshairs.

"Holly crap!" Sonic declared, staring at the giant from the deck of the Egg Carrier. This was what they'd done with all that stuff they'd dragged from the Egg Fleet's graveyard?

"It seems they busied themselves with the salvage from the Egg fleet sir." Becoe announced, the Egg Carrier's scanners studying the giant ship in front of them. Eggman clenched both fists; he didn't want to be reminded of that whole fiasco.

"Whatever contraption they've come up with." He began, narrowing his eyes in anger. "It's still a poor imitation of my genius." He turned back to them, anger, but a hint of envy in the eyes behind his glasses. "Blow that grotesque machine out of the sky!"

* * *

Missiles filled the sky as the two giant flying fortresses exchanged fire and within moments of the battle commencing, it became clear that the two of them were evenly matched. That infuriated Eggman even more, that something convinced by those inferior G.U.N scientists could match own creation. The President watched the battle from the deck of the final air craft carrier as it began to pull away to what the captain believed to be a safe distance.

Giant Wing had surpassed all his expectations but he knew that it could not compare to the weapon Eggman had fired from his ship. Their only hope was that Giant wing dealt enough damage quickly enough to knock the weapon offline.

* * *

Batting the lance aside, her hammer impacted the robot across the head, knocking it down. Sigma, using a single hand to propel itself upwards again, slashed her across the face with the tip of its lance. A single red line ran up the pink hedgehog's face, a painful sting spreading across her cheek.

In retaliation, she brought her hammer up, the edge catching Sigma on the chin. The Android went flying into the air and attacking advantage of the situation, Amy leapt up into the air, hammer held over her head and swung down, battering the robot back down into the floor. There was a loud thud as Sigma's limp body hit the floor. It didn't get up again.

Amy paused to catch her breath, letting her guard down for a split second. Long enough for Sigma to push itself up swing around and land two very strong punches into Amy's shoulders.

After that blow, the pink hedgehog found it an amazingly hard trail to twist her arms enough to avoid its attacks, even more so to launch one of her own. Somehow she managed to spin her entire body around, the entire length of her hammer impacting the robot across the back. That was a major blow as part of his metal skin broke off, thick streams of oil leaking from the wound. Almost as if enraged, Sigma attacked with new speed and ferocity.

* * *

"The Egg Carrier has been badly damaged." Decoe stated, stating the obvious conclusion from the reports that flashed up on his screens. "We can't afford to take another hit like that." The frown on Eggman's face deepened, his fists clenched by his sides, his cheeks turning slowly red in anger "We have to retreat sir." They could almost see the ends of the hairs on his moustache curling up in frustration and rage.

"Alright fine." He finally managed to say. "But let's give them a parting gift before we go." His fingers had already gained control of the Egg Carrier's missile systems. The miniature Eclipse cannon was still out, cooling down, but he could certainly do a great deal of damage to that pathetic fortress without it.

Eggman had been saving five 'super missiles' just for an occasion like this. He had been planning to use them on Sonic, but right now he was far more inclined to use them on that eyesore.

* * *

"INCOMING!" There was a sudden moment of silence, a high pitched whistle passing through the air and then the missiles impacted. Giant wing, thrown by the impact of nearly three missiles Eggman had spent most of his spare time on, lurched to the side tittering dangerously close to loosing its balance and tipping over. Just about every crewman on board as knocked completely off their feet and the ships' weapons systems flew offline.

* * *

Amy faulted and Sigma grabbed his lance, reading a powerful dive that would impale her head. Before he could however, several shuriken flew across the room, sinking into his arm, pinning it to his body. Another projectile flew out of the air, landing at Sigma's feet. Looking down, the robot could see it was a round black metal ball with a lit fuse attached. There was a loud beep and it exploded, sending him flying into the air, come face to face with huge fist attached the muscular arm of a polar bear.

"You took your sweet time." Amy commented dryly as what was left of Sigma fell to the floor, the head rolling to a stop next to her feet. Espio retracted his shuriken, adding them back into his arsenal.

Bean, being a master of explosives, looked rather pleased with himself and with the explosion his bomb had caused. Bark cleaned the oil and robotic fragments off his glove.

"There's nothing more we can do from in here." Bark replied. "Security robots are everywhere, we have to get off the ship before they catch us." There was a loud sonic boom and Sonic slid into the room, his soap shoes making a loud squeaking sound as he put on the brakes.

"So there you guys are." He said with a wide grin. "Come on, I think it's time we vacated the premise'." He blinked, suddenly noticing the bloody gash down Amy's face. "Amy what happened to you?" Sonic asked; genuine concern in his voice as he examined the cut on her face. Amy held her hand to it, finding a crimson stain on her glove.

"It's nothing." She said, but she didn't not sound very convincing. Sonic simply brushed her hand aside and took a close look for himself. The cut luckily wasn't too deep or long and would probably heal up in a few days, but she probably needed to get her covered up before it got infected.

There was a sudden, loud groaning sound that resonated up through the floor of the ship, making the soles of their feet shake.

"Time to move people!" Bark stated. "Let's get out off here while the getting's good!"

* * *

Target designate, Cream

Age: 6

Sex: female

Species: Mobian Rabbit

Description: Friend…ERROR. DOES NOT COMPUTE.

The Data the new Emerl had absorbed from the old one was obviously corrupted. The word Friend, which was not in his databanks was mentioned frequently throughout, along with them strong memories of the small girl playing in gardens, offering the original Emerl flowers chains.

Eggman would have to erase this data as soon as possible, it must be infecting his system with a virus because he found himself relating to these memories like they were his own. He looked up. The Egg Carrier was preparing jet mode. He would have to return inside. He paused to rexaime the most stranger memory the orginal Emerl had, the one were the rabbit girl had discovered him lying in a bush all alone and strangly how good it felt to have a friend, before leaving.

* * *

"Jump?!" Amy exclaimed, shortly before Sonic grabbed her around the waist and somersaulted over the edge down towards the ocean, Espio following close behind. The pink hedgehog's long scream following her down. Having no intention of being caught on the vessel before it left, Bark tightened his scraff around his neck, not wanting to loose it on the way down. Bean simply took one look as the distance between him and the ocean and shook his head violently.

"Are you insane? There's not a chance in hell I'm…" Bark simply reached over, tucked the duck under one arm and jumped. A girlish scream erupting from the duck's beak as the two of them plummeted down towards the surface of the sea. Just before they hit, Bark clenched his nose with his free hand and closed his eyes. Bean wasn't as wise, his scream dealing him a mouth full of water as they broke the surface.

The loud groaning of thousands of gears echoing through the air, the two side wings of the Egg Carrier began to slowly move, sliding outwards from their original positions, twisting a whole ninety degrees to become horizontally flat. The thrusters back engines, at the same time arched down several hundred feet below the sky deck. This was jet mode, where the Egg Carrier became a more streamlined vessel, allowing greater speed to be achieved.

Eggman hadn't to run away, especially from that pathetic military force G.U.N, but with all his ammunition used up, his main cannon out of action and significant damage done to his ship, he had little option. Still, it was only a minor defeat. Soon, once he had all seven chaos emeralds, his Egg Carrier would have unlimited destructive power. With two, it could wipe out an entire G.U.N army. With all seven he could dominate the entire world in a heart beat.

The transformation from hover mode to jet mode complete, every single engine on the Egg Carrier kicked in and within moments, the giant vessel rocketed away. Rapidly gaining speed as it became smaller and smaller, a dot on the horizon.

"This isn't over." Eggman snarled over his shoulder. "I'll be back!"

Giant wing lacked the speed to catch up with them, but also had been badly damaged, so it remained hanging in the air. Two pillars of smoke raising from the areas the missiles had impacted.

"Damage report!" The captain stuttered, pushing himself back into his chair. Everything that hadn't been bolted down had been knocked over, including most of the desks, leaving the bridge in a complete and utter mess.

"Weapons and main thrusters systems are offline." Someone shouted amongst the chaos. "We're loosing power to the levitation systems as well. An estimated thirty minutes left of propelled movement." Repairs, obviously, were drastically needed. The captain removed his hand and cleaned the back of his neck with his hankie.

"Return to base for maintenance work." He declared. "Send a message to the President's ship stating that we'll re-commence pursuit of the Eggman Empire once all systems are up and running again."

"Aye sir."

Sonic and Amy watched the Egg Carrier disappear as they floated in the sea below, both her quills matted, sticking to their backs.

"I don't think that'll stop him." Amy began. "Eggman's taken worst beatings and always come back." Sonic nodded in agreement, his eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something.

"Wait, what about Tails and the others?" He began almost in a panicked rush.

"Hey Sonic, up here!" Shouted a voice, the blue hedgehog looked to see Tails hovering in the air above them, his tails spinning behind him. Rouge and Omega were there as well, the bat sitting on the robot's large shoulder with Omega himself hung in the air in hover mode. Several pairs of helicopter blades protruding from his waist, his legs tucked away underneath him.

"Oh well that's fine." Sonic put with a grin. "Just one more thing though." Amy blinked.

"What's that?" The smile vanished from the blue hedgehog's face and he began splashing around in the splash like some frightened infant.

"GET ME OUT OF THE WATER!"

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

Just like old times. It's Chaos Emerald hunting time, Sonic's beaten Eggman to them before and he can do it again. But dose the new Emerl pose a problem? Find out next time on Sonic X, The hunt is on. Don't miss it!


	17. Episode 9, part 1

S.O.N.I.C GO

S.O.N.I.C GO

GO GO GO GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

Episode 9: The Hunt is on

* * *

"Rather extreme security measures for an Office building." Metal Sonic commented, his sensors already picking up infrared cameras, motion detectors, laser beam alarm systems, guards patrolling at ten minute intervals and a hired G.U.N walker robot standing outside the entrance to the lobby. Shadow nodded, sticking his head out momentarily from the bush they were hiding behind. The Foundation's office building stood next to the park and so they found sneaking up through the foliage under cover of darkness preferable to a direct attack. They were just outside of the perimeter fence, a little further along which as a sign marked, (High voltage.)

"Unless they have something inside there other than tones of paperwork." He added, a frown on his face. To confess, even he hadn't counted on this level of security to be present. But this only confirmed his deep routed suspicions about this "Foundation Organisation". And besides, this challenge might actually prove interesting.

He studied the grounds carefully, trying to note every detail before making a move. There was a little in the way of cover inside the fence, only a few cars in a concrete parking lot and a collection of tall buildings stretching upwards directly in the centre. The distant lights of patrolling security guards blinking on the other side of the compound. There was little in the way of moonlight to light his way, but that also worked to his advantage. This meant that he had a better chance at not being spotted.

He forced himself to remember Chuck's warning, as to not get involved in any intense battle until it was confirmed beyond all doubt that the Foundation were the ones responsible for his assailants. "Ok let's go." Shadow added, leaping out the fence and landing without a single sound on the other side. His footsteps as silent as a cats.

Metal Sonic followed quickly, keeping any systems that made the slightest bit of nose offline for the time being. As the two of them made their way quickly and silent through the compound, they caught sight of the giant G.U.N walker standing at the main entrance. It was a HOT SHOT model, especially designed for guard duty. It Didn't notice them, standing as still as a statue. The main entrance completely out of the question, they located a window that lead into a dark room and slipped inside.

The room as an office, filled with filing cabinets and cubicles. Shadow paused to let Metal Sonic scan the room to make sure that they were empty. A thermal scan revealed that the last employee had left about an hour ago, in fact the nearest heat source was a lukewarm cup of coffee someone had left on a desk.

Shadow doubted that anything as delicate as Project Shadow files would hardly be kept in a place like this, so he ignored the cabinets and made his way over the door. Metal Sonic went first, but quickly had to retract himself as he nearly got caught on film. A security camera was placed almost directly opposite the door. Shadow pushed the door open a crack and looked out, narrowing an eye at it carefully. Luckily the camera wasn't looking at the door at the moment, it's lens drawn off down the corridor to the left. Taking a chance, Shadow slipped out, sliding underneath it's field of vision before it looked back. Metal Sonic waited for it to turn again and then copied the technique.

Most of the rooms were completely identical, large offices with cubicles. Hardly anything interesting, that is until they came to one room that was watched far more extensively by security than the others. This looked promising.

From behind a corner, Shadow could see that the door was watched constantly by two security cameras and there were three red beams of light lanced across the bottom, infra-red motion detectors. Very clever, in fact, without Metal Sonic to point them out, he wouldn't have noticed they were there. The black hedgehog pointed to the camera's and made a scissors like gesture with one hand, Metal Sonic nodded and hovered silently over, keeping the roar put out by his engines as quiet as possible. Once he was in the blind side of the cameras, he used his curved talons to cut the wires leading from wall into the cameras themselves. The red light on the top of each one turned itself off as Shadow slid across, pushing the door open and then simply stepping over the beams.

This, it seemed, was the Corporation head's office. A relatively small room with a desk in front of a large window with a pair of drawn blood red curtains, two potted plants sitting the far corners. A fur carpet sat in the middle of the panelled floor and a row of wooden filing cabinets lined the left hand side wall. This seemed odd, why have all that security for a room like this?

As Shadow studied the contents of the desk, Metal Sonic looked around the room. His sensors couldn't pick up anything out of the ordinary but there had to be something interesting here. He checked his internal clock; they had not been inside the building for a grand total of four minutes. It would only be a matter of time until their presence was detected and the impressive security they had seen would be all over them.

Finding nothing relating to Project Shadow within the file folders, Shadow turned his attention to the room around him. He wasn't giving up that easily, there had to be something here even slightly incriminating.

"Hello?" Shadow muttered, finding a cut line travelling down the wall, partially hidden behind a cabinet. He ran his fingers along it and then tapped once. The sound beyond echoed showing that the there was a hallow space beyond here. A wide smile spread over his face as he pushed the cabinet aside and then dug his fingers in, pulling a secret door side. "I knew it." He added, looking down a flight of stairs going down a concealed tunnel the far end of which was concealed in darkness. Metal Sonic joined his side.

"Proceed with caution." He warned. Shadow simply nodded once, before beginning his decent. Metal Sonic stood stark still for a moment before following. The flight of stairs was longer than they had imagined, leading them down well past the ground floor of the building. Every so often the dark decent was lit by a single electric light, its glow a strange green colour.

When they finally reached the bottom, the passageway levelled off and they discovered that they had entered the sewer system. On the roof, ceiling and floor, in-fact every single surface that wasn't touching the flowing river of sewage that travelled through an artificial ditch running through the tunnels, was drawn images of the Foundation's old symbol, the Japanese red Dragon, it's shape and position matching the tattoo Shadow had seen on one of his attackers. People, a lot of people, had been here quite recently. Metal Sonic could still detect the residual heat signature that came from the warmth radiated by a large crowd of twenty or more. On the far side of the ditch was a door stone built into the wall, the same dragon carved into it. From the other side of it they could hear voices exchanging conversation. A large pile of oil drums piled up next to it, evidentially full as a thick puddle of black ooze had gathered around the bottom.

Keeping as quiet as possible, they crept closer, clinging to the wall and the shadows in case one of those talkers decided to venture out for a breath of fresh air. As they reached the door, Metal Sonic gestured to Shadow to take up a position on his right and then they'd charge in, catching whoever was in there by surprise. Shadow nodded and did so and after a count of three, the robotic hedgehog blasted the door down and the two of them shot in, Shadow with the beginnings of a Chaos Spear attack burning between his arched fingers.

To their stunned amazement, they found the chamber empty. But that was impossible; they could both have sworn they'd heard voices coming not two feet from behind that door.

The chamber was oval in shape with an arched ceiling, a single stone pillar standing directly in the centre. More drawings of the dragon were in here as well, but that wasn't what drew their attention as once. At the base of the pillar was some form of alter and upon this was a small carved statue made of some form of black wood. It was carved in the shape of a face with a skull like appearance, goat horns and large tusks. It rang a familiar bell, but Shadow couldn't place it.

"So, you return to seek your destiny." Metal and Shadow shot around to see five figures blocking the door, all clad in dark clocks. Shadow took a couple of steps back. These were those creeper things that attacked him on the desert road, now there was no doubt in his mind of their connection to the Foundation.

"This saves us the trouble of hunting you down." One said, the folds of his cloak rippling in the presence of some invisible wind. "Come, embrace your future."

"Fulfil your purpose and achieve greatness." Another added, all of them encircling the two of them, their feet no even touching the ground as they floated by some dark means.

"It thought I made it perfectly clear I'm not interested." Several of them laughed at Shadow retort.

"You speak as if you have control over your future." Metal Sonic pulled his arm back and then threw it forward again, a blast of chaos emerald erupting from his hand. Like wraiths, these strange tangible spectres simply swung to the side, twisting their bodies in impossible ways.

"Close range combat with these things." Shadow stated, before flying at the nearest one, landing a punch.

* * *

"And just where have you been?" Vector asked as Espio slammed the door behind him, an annoyed look on his face. "You know how many cases we had while you were gone?" The chameleon levelled his eyebrows.

"How many?" He asked. The crocodile put his knuckles against his hips, a wide grin spreading over his jaws.

"Two! Can you believe that? We were rushed off our feet!" Espio slapped his forehead.

* * *

Chuck seemed incredibly impressed at the rate Mobians healed at. Within a single day, the gash on Amy's face had nearly completely disappeared like it hadn't even been there. Sonic however, who had sustained far worse injuries, wound up with worse consequences.

"Ok, so that didn't go so well." Sonic admitted with most of left arm covered in bandages, drumming the fingers of his right hand on the table as Tanaka helped him with some cracked ribs he'd sustained during his fight with Emerl. "Maybe fighting our way into the Egg Carrier 3 wasn't a smart thing to do." Chuck's garage still under surveillance since the Military discovered he'd been repairing Metal Sonic; they'd all met up in Tails' workshop. Tails was the only one of them had apart from Chuck without any kind of injury and looked rather smug because of it.

"No kiddin'" He stated, a wide smile on his face. Sonic simply shot him a warning glare. "So what now? According to the news report I saw in town, the military lost track of Eggman's ship." Chuck looked up from his own notes. "He could be anywhere, and we still don't know what his plan is yet." Sonic just grinned.

"I can take Eggman with both hands tied behind my back, my eyes closed and holding my breath. No matter what half baked plan he's come up with." Chuck paused, his eye rolled back as he started thinking.

"No modesty on your part then." Amy added slyly, leaning on his shoulder with a seductive look on her face. Sonic winced at the touch as he was still quite sore.

"Sonic…" Chuck began. "You say that weapon Eggman fired resembled the Eclipse Cannon." The Blue hedgehog nodded as Tanaka finished wrapping up his bruises.

"A little yeah." He replied.

"The Eclipse Cannon was powered by Chaos Emeralds." The Butler said before Chuck could. "If Eggman's succeeded in miniaturising a weapon like that, then doesn't it stand to reason he'd collect more Chaos Emeralds to increase its own power?"

"Just what I was about to say." Chuck added; a hint of annoyance in his voice but no one really noticed.

"Chaos Emeralds? Again?" Sonic slumped back into the sofa, groaning loudly. "Not another Chaos Emerald hunt!" he said again, putting his hands in front of his face.

"What did you really expect?" Amy asked. "Chaos Emeralds possess great power and you know great power is one of Eggman's favourite things." They all, apart from Sonic, nodded in agreement. The blue hedgehog groaned again, those emeralds were causing him a lot of grief.

"I have one here to power the X-Tornado." Tails stated. "And since Eggman was able to fire that cannon, I'm willing to bet he has at least two."

"I should probably inform the Government about this." Chuck added, turning to face the computer, his fingers racing over the keyboard.

There was a sudden loud crash and the front door flung itself open, the cold fall air erupting inward in a shower of dead leaves. Shadow was Metal Sonic stumbled in, each looking like they'd just survived an avalanche, a hurricane and an earth quake all at once. Large, heavy dents covered Metal Sonic's skin and he looked like he could barley stand up, leaning on Shadow's shoulder, his left arm completely limp. Shadow's black fur had been sourced and a thin trail of blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"Shadow, you look like hell! What happened to you?" Sonic asked, helping them in.

"Don't ask." The black and red hedgehog replied angrily as he helped Sonic carry his metallic copy over to a chair. "Needless to say my theory about the Foundation has been proved correct." Cream and her mother Vanilla hurried in after them, the small blue Chao Cheese tucked away inside her ears. Turel, Amy's adult Hero class chao who had been asleep on the table in the kitchen area suddenly looked up as he sensed the presence of another Chao. Seeing Cheese, he uncurled his large golden wings and flew over.

"Hey Cream." Tails began. "I haven't seen you in a while." The rabbit did a little curtsey before replying.

"Mom's been taking me around new houses lately." She said in her usual soft, yet high pitched voice. Vanilla nodded.

"We're thinking of buying an apartment along the sea front in Station Square." She blinked: the scene around her finally registering. "My, what happened to you people? You look like you've been through hell and back."

Shadow explained what had happened, how during the fight, a chaos spear attack had accidentally hit one of the oil drums outside the chamber. The resulting explosion had weakened the tunnel, causing it to cave in. A great deal of land collapsed underneath the compound, nearly knocking the entire building down. The police had been called as well as other emergency surfaces and the military. They'd barley gotten away unnoticed. What ticked Shadow off more than anything is that those cloaked freaks had gotten away again and he'd learnt nothing.

"Not true." Chuck disagreed. "As much as it pains me to admit it, you were right about the Foundation. Even that confirmation is worth something."

"Whatever." Sonic began quickly. "We can deal with this later, after we deal Eggman to those Emeralds." He turned to give Shadow a grin. "And now that you're not too busy Shadow, maybe you can lend us a hand."

"No." The black hedgehog said simply.

"Ah come on."

"No."

"Be a pal."

"No."

"But what if…"

"No!"

"Now come on." Sonic added quickly before Shadow could refuse again. "Tell you what, help us out with Eggman this one time and I promise as soon as we're done, we'll go down and tear these Foundation guys a new opening." Shadow glared at him, his piercing red eyes fixing the blue hedgehog with a stern gaze that said '_not interested.' _Sonic matched it with his own puppy dog expression that Amy couldn't help laughing at.

"Are you sure your Echidna friend isn't a better choice?" The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes at the question.

"Knuckles is even less reliable than you." Shadow groaned one last time before giving in.

"Oh all right." He said reluctantly. Sonic's smile widened in triumph, putting an arm around the black hedgehog's shoulders.

"Welcome to the team." He said playful. Shadow simply turned to give him another glare.

"Don't touch me."

* * *

Bean and Bark, now qualified agents, had been the first ones to be dispatched when the intelligence agency reported the possibility of a chaos emerald in the uncharted jungles in the heart of the Mystic Ruins. Since they were one of the few mobian agents at the Government's disposal, it wads agreed that they would be the ones to investigate.

"I hate this place." Bean commented dryly, slapping the tenth bug off his shoulder as he and his large comrade wadded through thick mud, running water and reeds to reach the other side of the jungle path. They'd barely covered half the terrain since they set out this morning and it was already sunset. "Come on Bark, let's call it a day, I'm tired, hungry and I think the insects of his jungle are partial to roast duck." Bark ignored his complaints and kept going. Bark was the devoted type who once he set his mind to something, he kept going until he either collapsed from exestuation or succeeded. He would not be resting, not without that Chaos Emerald firmly in hand.

There was a sudden commotion up ahead and Bark froze. Was that an Eggman Empire patrol? Better not take any chances, he pulled Bean into the undergrowth and hid his own massive bulk as best he could.

He just picked up the smell of rotting fish when a large purple feline wandered out onto the path before them, a fishing rod carried over his left shoulder and several large fish in the right hand. A green tree frog was sitting on the cat's shoulder, nestled in the fur. "Big fellow." Bean stated and instantly the cat's large pointed ears twitched.

"Who's calling me?" He asked in a slow voice, looking around. Bark slapped a gloved over Bean's mouth and studied the cat carefully before deciding to reveal themselves. Even if this cat was with their enemy, he hardly looked like he could put up much of a fight.

The cat was about his size with shoulders twice as broad as his. A long fluffy tail that spiked off at the end held behind him. A large, fat belt tied around his waist. His feet fitted into a pair of sandals. "I've not seen you before." The cat added, finally seeing them when Bark pushed the large bush he was hiding behind aside and strode out onto the path. "Have you Froggy?" He asked the frog on his shoulder, which simply looked up at him, croaked once and then lay back down.

"I'm Bark the Polar Bear, and this is Bean the Duck." Bark replied, introducing themselves.

"The Dynamite Duck!" Bean corrected his large friend with a wide smile. Bark simply narrowed an eye at him. The cat blinked, then bowed respectfully, nearly loosing his balance at one point and falling over.

"I'm Big."

"No kiddin'." Bean muttered under his breath; only to have Bark smack him on the back of his head.

"We're looking for a jewel about the fist of a fist." The polar carried on. "It varies in colour a little; have you see anything like that?" Big blinked again, reached into his thick fur and withdrew a Chaos Emerald.

"Like this?" He asked.

"A little, yeah." Bean said with wide eyes.

"Don't suppose you'd be willing to part with it?" The polar bear asked. Big looked down at the emerald in his hands, clear reluctance in his eyes. "It is rather important." Bark made sure he didn't let anything he said give the Cat the idea that they were from the military, that could definitely complicate matters.

"Well, if it's important." The large cat began. "I suppose you can borrow it." He was about to reach over to hand them the jewel when a loud rumbling burst through the jungle. The trees collapsed under a pair of steal treads as one of Eggman's robots burst out through the undergrowth. A tank like pair of legs with the upper body very humanoid, portraying a bizarre cybernetic Centaur like appearance. A lazer cannon mounted to each shoulder, the head shrunken into the shoulders.

E1003 Tau had been hunting this chaos emerald for over two hours now. He was not about to let some Government agents take it from him.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: E1003: Tau

Sex: n/a

Age: Several days

Species: Robotic tank

Job description: The Third in the new E1000 series


	18. Episode 9, part 2

Flip Card 2: (I do not own Sonic, etc.)

* * *

Name: Big

Sex: male

Age: 25

Species: Cat

Job Description: Dim witted and slow, Big lives in the jungle with his best friend, Froggy.

* * *

"Incoming!" Bark yelled, before hitting the dirt, narrowing avoiding a blast from the laser cannon mounted on Tau's left shoulder. Froggy yelped and buried himself in Big's fur as the cat took off as quickly as he could with his large flat feet. Tau detected the retreat, twisting his entire torso around and firing a net from the back of his right cannon. Wrapping itself around the cat, Big was knocked onto the floor, tangled completely up. He lay there struggling on the jungle floor, his spiked tail sticking up in the air.

Bark used the momentary distraction to come in close, drawing a fist back for a punch. As it impact, the polar bear discovered that Tau's metal skin was much harder than that of the other robots he'd fought. He cried out load as felt the bones in his fist crack. Tau swung back around, his own punch proved to much stronger, smashing Bark through the air and straight into a tree, knocking it over.

Bean darted to the side, several large bombs worthy of the late Bokkun in his grasp. Tau just managed to detect him in time as the green duck tossed them straight at him. Swinging his entire torso around three hundred and sixty degrees, the robots arm acted like a baseball bat, knocking them away from him and straight back at Bean.

"HOLY HELL!" The duck screamed; diving into the undergrowth as his own devices exploded all around him.

Bark shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. That robot was actually stronger than him, so he'd have to be extra carefully. Simply overpowering techniques were not going to work against this machine. He could call for back up, but there was little time. By the time any help arrived, the robot would have taken the Chaos Emerald and gone. They would just have to stop it by themselves.

Pushing himself up, he assessed the situation. The tank like robot was advancing on the cat who was struggling to free himself and his frog from the net and Bean was cowering underneath a large bush, sourced ground all around him.

"Any time you feel like helping…" The polar bear said contemptuously, before leaping at the robot, landing with a loud thud on it's back. Tau's back send sunk into the mud as the extra weight pressed down on it. Before the robot could try a contour attack, Bark shoved himself off, narrowly avoiding a swing from the large metal arm. Its treads slipping on the mud, Tau was completely stuck in the ground.

That however, it not stop the robot from firing the cannons mounted to its shoulders. Its left cannon rotated one hundred and eighty degrees and fired at near point blank range straight into Bark's face.

Yelping, Bark bend his legs, dipping himself head over heals, landing on his back. The laser blast shot over him and collided with a tree, setting it on fire.

"Helping, right, Good plan." Bean muttered, crawling out from his hiding place, a new batch of his bombs at the ready. Bark nearly threw himself off the ground and the left cannon pivoted around, trying to get a good lock on to fire again. Bark's speciality was by no means, speed, but he still managed to stay one step ahead of Tau's targeting sensors, waiting until the robot let its guard drop so it could fire.

The moment he was waiting for came when Bean tossed a second load of bombs beside its stuck treads, which exploded as soon as they hit the ground, blowing one of the wheels off the metal frame. Tau, now more stuck than ever, rotated it's torso around again, a large metal arm snatching Bean across the mid waist. Bark tried to leap in to help, by Tau shot around at the last moment and tossed Bean right at him, knocking the two of them out of the sky.

"Switching to hover mode." With a fluid motion, the ruined treadmills retracted and a long pair of hover pads descended in their place, pushing Tau out of the buddy ditch and up into the air.

"Ah crap." Bean and Bark said together, before running for all they were worth away from the robot who by now was more mobile than before. Bark reached over and snatched the net that held Big as they ran, desperately dodging and ducking to avoid the blasts from the cannons on his shoulders.

"Let me out of here!" Big yelled down at them as they disappeared as quickly as they could through the trees, sliding down a muddy hill to a river. Tau still close behind, bashing down trees in it's relentless pursuit.

"You'll have to wait." Bean replied, before slipping into the water, disappearing into the deep part that ran down the middle.

"Hold your breath." Bark added, before diving in with a loud splash. Big could hold his breath for yours without having to come up for air, so a quick dip in a river was no problem for him. Froggy, who was naturally amphibious, actually found it enjoyable. Polar bears and ducks were also animals best suited to the water and so the four of them kept underwater, watching the dark silhouette of Tau fly above them. Their only hope now was that he didn't detect them down here and carried on looking else ware. Tau had only programmed the detect heat signatures and he hadn't seen them slip underneath the cold water, which was masking their own body heat.

Bark surfaced briefly, just letting his nose and eyes poke above the surface. A wide smile crossed his face as he watched Tau float away downing the flow of the river downstream.

He dived again and quickly untied the net with Big inside, letting both him and Froggy free. They waited for another few minutes, before they all surface and swam over to the bank. Bean's oily feathers let the water simply drain off him, while Bark and Big had to shake themselves down like a dog to get the water out of their fur.

"Take the pretty rock." Big said almost at once, handing the Chaos Emerald over in an instant. "It's more trouble than it's worth." Without another word he and Froggy disappeared into the jungle, travelling in the opposite direction they'd seen Tau go in.

"Strange guy." Bean commented with a narrow eye.

"Forget about it. We got what we came for." Bark replied, tossing the emerald and then catching it again, before tucking it into his fur. "Let's get back to headquarters before that robot…" He never got finish the sentence as a shadow fell over them. As they looked up, they could see Tau floating over them blocking out the sunlight. "Ah hell."

The jungle erupted into a fire storm again and Tau resumed his chase, desperate to retrieve the emerald and deliver it to Doctor. Eggman. Bean and Bark presently were trying to get of the jungle without having their heads blown off. Dodging through trees, the two of them made their way as quickly as they could towards the south were they'd left the truck they'd arrived in. In that perhaps they might be able to make a clean get away. Just as they sighted the road with the van parked on the side however, Tau fired a beam from his right cannon and the van exploded. Flying fragments of burning metal began to rain down from the skies.

"Oh give us a break!" Bean cried in anger, looking up at the sky before Bark yanked him down through a patch of foliage, narrowly avoiding another blast from Tau's cannon.

"Watch what's going on around you will you?" The polar bear screamed in his face as they ran, Tau close behind.

"I notice more than you." Bean replied. "Like, I notice that you're about to run head first of a cliff and I'm not." Bark blinked and looked forward, seeing a sudden end to the ground. Putting on the breaks and came a halt almost directly on the edge of a five hundred foot drop to the valley below, the cold air whistling very aptly around them. "See?" Bean added smugly, before Tau came crashing through the trees, cutting off their only escape route. "Oh crap."

The flying tank assessed the situation with its limited artificial intelligence. It had them coursed now. All he had to do was demand the Chaos Emerald or let them choose between a death by falling or a death by laser fire.

"Any ideas?" Bark asked as the robot closed the distance between them and the towering cliff face.

"Just one," Bean replied, judging the height of a tall tree behind Tau and the distance between the robot and themselves. The duck reached behind his own back, hiding another bomb in his grasp. "Just be ready to run to the left when I say so." Beans's plans had never actually had much forethought put into them and the polar bear was extremely reluctant to go along with it, until that is he remembered that his other option was falling to his death. Bean stepped forward, waving his free arm at Tau. "Hey, Mr. Machine. Come on, I've got the chaos emerald right behind me. You want it? Come get me!" Hearing the key words, Chaos and Emerald, Tau swerved toward him.

Bean grinned as the robot reached the right position. "Phyk!" He added, withdrawing his bomb and tossing it straight at him. Bark just watched in amazement as it missed Tau completely and hit the tree behind him.

"You missed after all that?" The polar bear asked in expiration. The duck shook his head, giving his friend a thumbs up.

"I never miss." There was a loud groaning sound as the tree began to topple over. Tau did not have the intelligence to realize the threat and kept coming at Bean for the Chaos Emerald. It didn't even see the tree fall, smashing him straight in the back, knocking the robot over the cliff edge.

Bean and Bark peered over the edge and watched the two objects grow smaller and smaller before colliding with a thick canopy of trees below.

"I suppose you'll be wanting some kind of praise for this?" The polar bear began. Bean just grinned.

"Yeah, but you can do that later when we get back to headquarters."

* * *

Eggman drummed his fingers as he waited for the go ahead from the worker robots patching up his grand battleship, the Egg Carrier 3. His plans to collect the Chaos Emeralds depended on that ship being up and running. Sonic and his friends had already defeated two of his new E1000 and there had been no word from Tau for some time. His mood was foul so Decoe and Becoe kept out of his way while they did repairs to the Egg Carrier's weapons systems that had been damaged during the battle with Giant Wing.

Hidden under the dense canopy of a jungle somewhere far away from civilisation, in one of the original land pieces that belonged to Mobius, the Egg Carrier 3 remained undetected by the government. Who was doing an extensive search for the would be dictators giant vessel.

"Repairs to the Egg Carrier should be complete very soon Doctor." Decoe announced reluctantly, afraid to draw Eggman's gaze.

"Good. The sooner we get underway the better." He simply replied; his face set in a near permanent scowl. "I still can't believe that those low grade G.U.N people actually came up with something worthy of me." Wing Fortress, the giant flying fortress that they had built using technology they had stolen from his own Egg Fleet. It was a freak, a monster made by grave robbers, a thrown together monstrosity. Once the cannon was repaired and he had more Chaos emeralds to power it, he'd show them exactly who they were dealing with.

With two Chaos Emeralds, his miniature Eclipse Cannon would only first at half strength. With another two, he could unlock it's full potential. Leaving another three Emeralds to spare. Eggman was sure he could find some use for them, no sense in letting a set of perfectly good Chaos Emeralds go to waist even if he didn't have to use them in his cannon.

With this space time he was forced to endure, he began dreaming about his ultimate desire, a world controlled by him. His Grandfather had given him the necessary driving force and skills to succeed in this venture. And when he finally did, the entire world would become part of an Empire that would know no military bounds. Using this fused planet as his headquarters, the Eggman Empire would spread over the entire universe.

"Transmission from Theta sir." Becoe suddenly stated. "He said he's located a Chaos Emerald and is currently on his way to pick it up." A grin finally broke Eggman's face. Finally, a bit of good news for a change.

"Excellent. Tell him to meet up with the Egg Carrier 3 as soon as it's fully operational again."

"Aye sir."

* * *

Chuck's new Chaos emerald radar, which he'd built using the remains of the throw together device he'd created with Doctor Eggman during the whole Metal Overlord thing didn't work as well as they'd hoped. Although Sonic already had a fix on one right now, according to the small device attached to his wrist, the jewel was hidden somewhere within the thick and uncharted Red Mountain region, North of the desert surrounding Station Square.

The blue hedgehog checked the sun's position in the sky to the map Tanaka had given him. The Red Mountain Region stretched right up the entire length of the country and finding the Emerald without the aid of Chuck's device would probably be impossible.

The blue hedgehog rolled the map up and tucked into his glove, before racing of down the steep mountain side into a deep ravine.

All of them, expect Metal Sonic who had checked in for more repairs, were out there looking for the Emeralds. Hopefully they were having better luck than he was. The radar wasn't precise enough to allow him to simply follow its instructions. It just told him the Emerald was within a mile of this tunnel ridden, ravine filled mountain range. So far, he'd been combing the place systematically for it but with no luck.

"Here chaos chaos chaos chaos emerald." Sonic muttered, as he reached through a canyon with splintering ravines lancing off in many different directions. "Just how am I suppose to find it in a place like this?" He slid to a stop, his hands on his hips. Where was Tails when you needed him. He was sure this is flying ability, he might offer some help. He however was helping Shadow to search for another Emerald somewhere else.

Realizing that he wasn't going anywhere fast, he came to a halt on the edge of a large cliff overlooking a large canyon with a bottom so low Sonic couldn't see it through the early evening gloom. That Chaos Emerald had to be around here somewhere, but searching for it this way was taking far too long. At this rate, Eggman would have it in his grasp before Sonic would realize it was gone. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched either, though he could see no one around.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted a wild flower growing out of a crevice between two large boulders. It's soft pink petals reminded him so much of Amy it was scary, for more reasons that one. He knew his fondness for the pink hedgehog was increasing with each passing day and although he wasn't complaining he was smart enough to realize that it wasn't like him. Perhaps he'd past some kind of age thing and his feelings had matured from the usual teenage denial. He paused, then chuckled to himself. If he didn't know any better he'd sworn he'd just swapped brains with Chuck. Still, it was a possibility he knew he couldn't just dismiss. He'd have to take some time to think this through seriously, but now wasn't that time.

He had to concentrate on the task at hand before he could let his attention wander. He stood up and took another look around at the large wilderness around him and groaned. Just where was that blasted emerald?

"Funny how we keep meeting up like this." Sonic snapped his head to the side to see a silhouette standing against the setting sun in the top of a towering mountain peak. A very familiar silhouette. The blue hedgehog levelled his eyebrows.

"Oh not you again." He groaned as Theta dropped down to the level platform close to the blue hedgehog, each flame thrower held at the ready.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Hedgehog?"

"Look I'll fight you, just no more of those stupid fire metaphors." Theta just chuckled to himself.

"There's nothing I'd like more than to fry your molecules." A small door hidden within his chest plate opened, revealing a concealed compartment within which was a very familiar object. "But Dr. Eggman will have my head if I don't bring this back." Sonic's jaw nearly dropped as he saw the red Chaos Emerald, it's soft glow suddenly eclipsed when the robot close the shutter door again.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll hand it over." The blue hedgehog snarled, narrowing his eyes.

"Sorry, but I guess we'll just have to postpone our little rumble." Theta replied, the Chaos Emerald hidden within his being before his thrusters flew on and he disappeared up across the mountain peak.

"Oh no you don't." Sonic said through clenched teeth, his legs already a blur as he raced off after him, propelling his entire body up with the mountainous face of rock as the robot tried to make his escape.

Theta looked back just in time to see a flying kick coming straight at him, Sonic's foot flying through the air at intense speed. The attack missed, but Sonic twisted his body around in mid air just enough top grab one of the flame throwers on Theta's arm, tossing him back towards the ground.

Landing with a loud thud, Theta rolled to the side, narrowly missing a spin attack, before somersaulting back to his feet, fire already streaming from his flamethrowers. Sonic leapt over the flames and dealt a fierce series of rapid punches straight into Theta's chest plate. His feet scrapping against the ground, the robot slid back further and further towards the mountain wall with each blow, before he dealt Sonic adside by slapping him across the face with the blunt edge of one of his flame throwers.

"On the other hand." He began, pausing to recover. "Dr. Eggman can wait." He held both weapons out in front of himself. "When I'm done with you, all that they'll find of your remains will be a pair of charred sneakers!"

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

The heat is on. Eggman has two Emeralds, Bean and Bark have one and so has Sonic, whose now in a fight to get Theta's. Will Eggman get the majority of the Emeralds had have his Egg Carriers cannon at full power, or will Sonic beat him to them? It's Shadow Vs Emerl next time on Sonic X, Data memories. Don't miss it!


	19. Episode 10, part 1

(I do not own Sonic…etc.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

Episode 10: Data Memories

* * *

"Main thrusters back on line, beginning launching sequence." The low rumble echoed across the jungle before the thick canopy of leaves was ripped aside as the jungle broke forth as the massive bulk of the Egg Carrier 3 rose up once again into the air. On hover mode, the great battleship waited in mid air for a single moment before with a sudden burst the back engines roared to life, pillars of blue flame spouting outwards. The loud booming sent birds flying from the jungle below. As the great battleship began to move forward once again, Dr. Eggman's mood was slightly better than it had been a few hours ago.

Tau had been discovered at the bottom of a cliff, serious damage sustained to his metallic frame and he had lost the Chaos Emerald Eggman had ordered him to track. He was currently in the robotics lab receiving repair work. Someone had really done a number on him.

Theta, the last remaining E1000 robot that was still operational had sent a distress signal stating that he had a Chaos Emerald in hand but Sonic had turned up. As such, Eggman had ordered the Egg Carrier to head out as fast as it could go. Decoe hesitated only for a minute, remembering that Eggman might do to him if he disobeyed orders and then pressed the button. As it flew through the air, gently gathering speed, the Egg Carrier 3 rotated its wings as it transformed into Jet mode. Now in his form, the output by the engines increased ten fold and the entire ship went rocketing forward. Decoe and Becoe were thrown back into their chairs, pressed against the seats, their optics nearly pulled back inside their frames.

* * *

Fire dancing all around them, Sonic speed through the flames veil and landed another kick directly on Theta's shoulders. That was the second blow the robot had sustained there and it had serious weakened that arm, the other one however was still quite usable. Swinging his left arm around, Theta fired a stream of hit hot fire at Sonic, who slid to the side to avoid it, the edge of his quills charged back.

Sonic knew already that close range combat was the only option with this root. With those nasty flame throwers of his he could roast the blue hedgehog easily from any sort of distance. Close up however, he noticed that Theta was reluctant to use them for fear that the backlash might it him, and that could play to his advantage drastically. Not letting Theta draw back to any kind of distance, he flew in close, trying another kick.

Theta blocked the blow with his flamethrowers blunt side, before retaliating by using his free arm to blast Sonic with another torrent of flames. Sonic twisted his body, narrowly avoiding it again, using the momentum of the twist to land another punch before he somersaulting backwards, already racing off.

E1004 watched the hedgehog race away, before sliding to a stop, then rocketing forward with a fist drawn back. Theta prepared himself for an attempted punch, only to have a kick catch him off guard. Swaying, Sonic spun his body around, knocking his feet out from under him.

Nearly instantly, Theta was on his feet again, backing off to try and blast the hedgehog from a distance, Sonic avoided every shot, before leapt through the air, poised for another attack.

Theta swung to the side, avoiding the punch, before trying to kick Sonic was he shot across. Luckily for the blue hedgehog, Theta's body was not build for close range combat and the attack was slow and clumsy, gaining the hedgehog two valuable advantages. One, the time he needs to double back at super speed and two, the knowledge that not only did Theta not like using his flamethrowers at close range, but the robot couldn't defend himself if he got in close.

Blow after sourcing blow was exchanged and as the fight wore on, Sonic's strategy became clear. He was wearing Theta down with his speed, avoiding the flames before coming in close to attack him where he was most vulnerable. The robot quickly realized that he would have to outthink the hedgehog strategically if he was going to win the fight.

Sonic shot across the walls of the mountain, his speed keeping him parallel with the near flat vertical surface, before he shot forward with a flying kick.

Theta was ready for it this time, pausing for a moment before stepping back out of reach of the kick and swung one of his heavy flamethrower hands down, smacking the hedgehog across the chest and onto the ground. Sonic rebounded, somersaulting into the air before coming back down with a spin attack that scored a direct hit straight into Theta's head.

Staggering back a few feet, the robot looked almost enraged as it brought both flame throwers around to his front and fired a rapid spread of flames into the air in a desperate bid to hit the blue hedgehog. All the blind attempts missed Sonic; he was far too fast for any kind of melee attack to work. And while Theta was firing enthusiastically at anything he thought moved, Sonic slid across the back and within moments the robot was dealt a kick from behind, knocking him straight down into the ground.

"No comparison." Sonic said smugly as Theta pushed himself up, elevating one flame thrower in an instant, frying at the spot were Sonic had been only a split second before. Theta had been given far greater AI than any of the E1000 save Emerl of course and he could easily see that Sonic was greatly underestimating his intelligence. Like he regarded him like any Eggman Empire robot.

That mistake would prove his undoing. Theta's thrusters came on and the android flew into the air, making it look like he was attempting a standard tactic employed by all the other Dreadnaughts in Dr. Eggman's service. Fly through the air and fire at targets on the ground. Sonic would have undoubtedly seen it before and by the hedgehog's reaction, it was plainly obvious he had fallen for the ploy. He was attempting to gain sufficient room to try a leaping spin attack. As soon as Sonic left the ground, Theta fired a stream of fire straight at the ground, causing a complete veil of fire the shielded the robot from view. Sonic had to cover his eyes fore a moment and in that second, Theta flew around him and hammered the hedgehog from both sides with each flame thrower, sending him straight into the ground with a loud thud, leaving a hedgehog imprint in the dirt.

Theta didn't stop there, while Sonic was twitching on the ground, he stamped on him with both of his heavy metal feet, flattening him into the ground. To finish the deal off, the robot aimed the large metal barrel of the flame thrower on his right arm straight at his head.

The second before the white hot fire left the weapon; Sonic pushed himself out of the dirt and rolled to the side. The fire flew across the ground, blinding Theta completely, allowing Sonic to easily take advantage of the robot's mistake; first laying a rapid series of punches across the robot's shoulders before finding time to land another super strong kick into his chest plate. Send spiralling out of the air, Theta crashed directly into the side of a double, cracking it in half.

The robot rolled across the ground for a short while before impact the side of a mountain wall, his right arm finally giving way under the strain and snapping off in a shower of metal sparks. "Are we going to do this all day or are you just going to hand over the Emerald now?" The blue hedgehog asked as he paused to catch his breath, leaning on his knees. His blue fur full of small rocks and solid clumps of dirt, a great deal of nasty looking scratches on his arms and legs and the ends of each quill scorched black. Theta pushed himself up as best he could with a missing limb, his second flamethrower lying a few feet away from him. Completely crushed underneath the shattered remains of the rock he'd ploughed through.

Suddenly, a long never ending shadow crept over the battlefield and Sonic looked up. The tip of the Egg Carrier 3 blocking out the sun as the giant battleship flew in from behind him the metallic edges of the super ship gleaming in the intense sunlight from above. Now in perspective with the near equally large mountain range, Sonic could see exactly how large the Egg Carrier 3 was. It's size rivalled that Flag Ship that Eggman had built for his deceased Egg Fleet. The air seemed to shake and rumble in it's presence, the loud hum from the battleship's engines vibrating across the mountains.

"Looks like my ride's here." Theta stated and before Sonic could stop him, his jets reactivated and he flew up into the air towards the Egg Carrier. Sonic cursed, he wasn't about to let the Chaos Emerald away from him that easily. Darting to the side, he raced up the side of the mountain ridge, using the near ninety degree angle to propel his entire body into the air. Theta, who wisely had kept an eye on the Hedgehog as he ascended towards the pair of cargo bay boors on the Egg Carrier's underbelly that were pulling themselves slowly open, turned in mid air and fired a weak line of flame straight at him. Sonic saw it coming and threw his weight forward, going into a super spin. While spinning, the speed at which he moved formed a protective barrier around his entire body, shielding himself from the flames. But the attack had already served its purpose.

Theta was too weak now to muster anything stronger than that, but the drag on the shield had slowed Sonic down just long enough for his propulsion to run down, causing the blue hedgehog to fall back towards the ground, with no more time to attempt to the shot again.

"Damn it!" Sonic swore as Theta disappeared from sight within the belly of the Egg Carrier. He knew Eggman could see him through some sort of surveillance device and he was sure the _–would-be-dictator- _was laughing insanely too. So he turned to look at the ship's centre and stuck his middle finger up at it. There was a brief pause and the laser turrets on the underside of the ship opened fire at him, but by then Sonic was gone, a brief blue blur on the horizon.

"Here you go doc." Theta stated, handing Eggman the Red Chaos emerald, the insane scientists fingers curling around the fist size jewel, a greedy glint in his eyes.

"Ah you've done well Theta." He said between chuckles, before handing the Emerald to one of his smaller technician robots for it to store it with the other two they'd already collected. "While you're in the workshop, have a battle upgrade, on me." Theta bowed respectfully, before leaving the bridge, oil leaking from the stub where his second flamethrower had been. "Before too long," Eggman began, rubbing his hands together with relish. "All seven will be mine."

"We already have a fix on a fourth one." Decoe announced, he and his robotic comrade Becoe still in their seats surrounded by two dozen terminals each. "And the Atlantis base says their own patrols may have isolated an area that may have a Chaos Emerald hidden within it."

"Tell them to speed up the search." Eggman replied, seating himself back down in his commander chair. "We beat Sonic to the Emerald this time, but next time we may not be so lucky."

* * *

With the X Tornado still in the shop, Tails took the old Cyclone out. There was something very friendly about this craft and although it couldn't fly as fast or as high as the X tornado, Tails had a history with it. It was the first plane he owned. It had been red, but when he met Sonic in an act of what can only be described as unlimited fandom he painted it blue. Standing on the wings, Shadow watched the ground far below with his arms crossed. He could sense no Chaos Emerald in the immediate radius, so he knew that radar they'd constructed was defective. His senses were far more effective than any device.

"It shouldn't be far." Tails stated, looking down briefly at the small device around his wrist. The wind blowing in his face would have blown his quaff into his eyes if he hadn't bee wearing a pair of pilot's goggles. "So keep your eyes open." Shadow simply sighed in annoyance.

"Forget it, that little machine of yours is a waste of time and effort." He looked down towards the ground again, an expanse of swamp land that stretched from horizon to horizon in every direction. Most of the land masses gained from Mobius were untamed wildness like this. "There isn't a Chaos Emerald for miles." Tails simply shook his head at the black hedgehog's statement.

"Chuck's inventions have never let me down before." Shadow narrowed an eye at him.

"There's a first time for everything."

"I'm sure it'll work soon." A voice from the back of the plane stated and Tails and Shadow looked back to see Cream sitting in the rear seat, Cheese on her lap.

"Cream? What are you doing here?" The rabbit girl simply gained a nervous smile.

"I snuck on while no one was looking." She replied with a large proud grin. Shadow slapped his forehead.

"Your mother is going to have a cow when she realizes you're here." Tails snapped. "I should turn us around and take you home right now."

"Ah please?" Cream pleaded. "Just let me stay, you'll hardly know I'm here." Tails simply rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his piloting.

"Fine." He began, knowing he was going to regret this not very soon. "But if your mom asks, you stayed hidden for the length of the trip." Cream gave him a thumbs up with a large grin.

"Chao!" Cheese went in agreement.

One of Shadow's ears twitched and he looked down towards the ground.

Without warning there was a suddenly blast from the trees below. Shadow stared to see a flying metal fist coming roaring upwards and smashed into the underside of the plane. The sudden jolt from the extremely long ranged punch forced Tails to loose control of the craft for a second, sending them spiralling down towards the ground. The fox tried to pull the plane up into a safe guild, but found that something had been damaged during the blow, he could right the Cyclone. There was another loud bang and a second fist metal hand from the hidden depths of the swamp, tore through one of then planes wings, destroying any hopes Tails had of saving the plane from a nasty crash. Cream screamed as the plane neared the thick collection of trees and vines that marked the near unending canopy above the swamp.

Grasping the planes remaining wings with both hands, Shadow cried out…

"CHAOS CONTROL!" A short flash of green light followed and the entire Cyclone disappeared.

As Emerl's hands returned to their proper arms, the robot knew that his target had not been destroyed. He was well aware of Shadow's chaos Control teleport ability so they had just been transported somewhere else. Probably not very far tough, Shadow did not have a Chaos Emerald with him to lengthen the distance he could jump through space. His prime orders were to track down a Chaos Emerald for Dr. Eggman, but he had also been ordered to intercept and destroy anyone on the Eggman Empire's most wanted list.

There was a short emerald flare and the Cyclone came crashing down out of Chaos Control, through a thick clump of overhanging vines and then straight into a thick pond of stagnant water that was slowly being absorbed by the thick tree roots all around. The engine hissed angrily as it was cooled down super fast, a thick cloud of steam escaping from it.

"Well, I've conducted better landings than that." Tails commented, pulling his goggles back over his head. Shadow, who's Chaos Control had slowed the planes decent just enough for the crash to escape fatal classification, paused to look around at the thick, green and yellow world around him. "Cream, are you ok?" The fox asked, looking back at the rear seat, only to find that neither the rabbit nor the Chao was there. Fearing something nasty for a moment, Tails looked around frantically until he saw the two of them climbing a large rock that lanced out of the stagnant water. There was a cold mist in hung in the air, as well as a potent near unbearable smeel that lead Shadow to think something had died here recently.

"We're not alone." Shadow said so quiet he was the only one who heard himself. The others would near be able to hear the distinctive ripples in the air and the tearing of foliage that suggested movement, but not that of any local wildlife. His black ears twitched as he heard heavy footsteps. Footsteps far to low pitched to belong to anything else than something with metal feet. It seems whatever had shot them out of the sky was already hunting them down.

That was fast, especially for an Eggman Empire robot.

"Well, here's another plane I need to repair." Tails said, interrupting Shadow's trail of though as the fox overlooked the engine, which by now was completely soaked. "I think I might be able to get the radio working so we can call Chuck for a tow of something."

"Don't bother." Shadow said, almost whispering, sliding down from the ruined wings of the craft landing in the water, sinking in up to his knees. "You can the kid should probably get moving." Tails looked up in surprise.

"Why?" Answering his question, something punched a tree over with a single blow and as it crashed down, forming a natural bridge, this newest arrival strode out to a new vantage point.

Despite the change in colour and the extra body arm, Cream recognised this figure at once.

"Emerl?!"

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Emerl

Sex: (Male, sort of)

Species: Eggman Empire battle android

Age: (Unknown, some believe he was created on ARK fifty years ago along with Shadow)

Job description: Also known as the Gizoid, Emerl is a robot capable of copying the battle data of Sonic and his friend and then use that information to increase is own fighting potential.


	20. Episode 10, part 2

Flip Card 2: (I do not own Sonic X, Sonic, etc.)

* * *

Name: Captain Koji Okida

Age: 23

Sex: Male

Species: Vampire Bat

Job description: Mobile walker pilot for the military organisation, G.U.N

* * *

"How can could we possibly loose a battleship that size?" The President, Michael Corvo, asked as Air force _one (the presidents private plane, for those of you who don't know.)_ soured towards the new G.U.N headquarters, a large base hidden in the Arizona desert, it's location and security above top secret.

"We don't know sir. It seems Eggman's technological advances have been keeping pace with our own." Christina replied, adjusting her glasses as she looked over the reports in front of her. "He may have developed some radar evasion device is order to elude us."

"Well at least the report that he's collecting Chaos Emeralds has been confirmed. Thanks to Bean and Bark, we have one of them safely locked in the vault at Area 99."

Now that they'd cleared a ridge, the base came within visual distance. A large compound, circular in shape and surrounded completely by turrets and anti-aircraft guns. A large collection of runways to the west of the base's interior and a power plant to the east, making the base completely independent from the nation grid.

"I certainly hope this new Mobile Walker they'd been able to design can keep up with those Dreadnaughts of his." presently, the President was on his way to expect the results of project _Dead shot. _An effort to produce a faster, stronger and more versatile mobile walker for front line combat.

With Giant Wing presently under going repairs after it's brief exchange with Dr. Eggman's Egg Carrier 3, presently the Michael reasoned that they could use all the help they could get.

What they didn't know however, was that Eggman had learnt were exactly the base was, by gaining access to the satellite surveillance system to spy on his enemy. As the plane flew across the mountain range, a lens focused in on the craft, trapping the plane in it's crosshairs. A large bulk reared itself up and two, eclipsing the half moon as two large doors to concealed compartments on it's body opened up. There was a sudden flare of orange light and a loud boom.

"Weapons fire inbound!"

The G.U.N headquarters was the militaries largest base, a near impenetrable fortress. At least, they'd thought, so isolated in the wildness, the wasteland it was submerged inwas nearly completely surrounded on all sides by mountains. So image their surprise when they came under attack by a significant Eggman Empire attack force.

By the time the pilots had scrambled into their Walker mobile suits prepared for battle, the flying Dreadnaught attack robots had already breeched the base perimeter. Destroying anything that got in their way.

Thick streams of bullets took down two Big-Foot walkers, giving their pilots just enough time to eject. As the large bulky robots touched down on the runways that allowed the bases stealth planes room to land and take off, G.U.N was calling for help on all channels, trying to bring in backup from any nearby bases. The Anti aircraft guns, which had tried to bring down the flying robots, had been taken out by the Dreadnaughts air support, a swarm of Dreadnaughts that remained in the air.

Tanks with the G.U.N (**G)** symbol on their sides rolled out of their hiding places, their large turrets already rotating towards the large robots. As the bullets were replaced with missile fire and with no anti-aircraft guns to hinder them, more support for Dr. Eggman's own forces arrived in the form of two large flying ships, the Empire's symbol; the large sneering face of the Doctor himself painted on the underside. One each flying vehicle a pair of cargo bay doors flew open and at two dozen Dreadnaughts joined the fray.

Now that the seriousness of the attack was realized, G.U.N's biggest fighting asset arrived on the battlefield. His eyes glowing a blood red, Omega ascended to the surface of the base by the use of an elevator that was used to bring various forms of weapons from the base's interior underground. As soon as he arrived, his arms swung upwards and two concealed missile compartments opened up, at least five from each open flung into the air.

Several Dreadnaughts crashed to the ground, explosions having torn their bodies in half. Converting to mobile mode, Omega flew across the landing strips, bullets tearing away from the two machine guns he could retract back behind the red metal chest plate. While the mass majority of them carried on assaulting the base, showing it was their primary mission, a good deal of them served and charged at the smaller robot head on.

"Obliterate." Sliding backwards, thick streams of bullets escaped Omega's hands, riddling the leader of the ground with holes and as it crashed to the ground, E123 swerved to the side, keeping his body mobile as he fire missile after missile as soon as he got get a lock on. As a missile struck the ground, a thick combination of fragmented concrete and smoke flew up into the air, spreading like a fine mist. The base itself lost visual of their best attack unit but Omega simply switched his optics settings from normal mode to night vision. Just in time to see a Dreadnaught turn towards him and fire a missile.

Omega simply wasn't fast enough to swerve the missile collided with his chest plate, sending him flying across the air and through a wall straight into one of the storage warehouse.

As he lay across the floor, a quick damage report told him his armour rating had been deceased from 100 to 65. Also his missile weapons systems had been knocked offline. A new strategy devise and system repairs done as quickly as possible during the time available, Omega pushed himself off the ground with one large arm and was ready for combat again.

Bursting out through the doors, the combat robot shut down his projectile combat mode, his fingers converting from a machine gun back into talons. Head to hand combat might prove more effective.Omega could not have known that the intelligence of the Dreadnaughts AI had been greatly improved. This was a divisionary attack to keep him busy while the rest dealt with the G.U.N defenders, reducing everything higher than a few meters to the ground.

"Captain, get back here now!" Of course, the pilot inside the experimental Mobile Walker wasn't listening. Flicking a few switches in front of him before taking hold of the two steering controls, the pilot leaned back as waited to the large shutter doors in front of his walker ascended, revealing the battlefield before him. "Captain, this is a direct or…" A smile crossed his face, before he switched the radio off.

Two large laser guns, the latest attachment to the Walker, rotated themselves forward of the bulk of the machine as is strode out into the night air and fired a blast across the bulk of the attacking forward, taking down several of their numb in one shot. In the aftermath, they all paused for a single moment and stared at the point of origin of the blast. The flames of battle produced a lot of smoke, nearly blanketing the entire base and as they stared, their optics picked up a large shape as a large metal foot stamped down on a fire, extinguishing it.

Althoguh not as large as the other G.U.N walkers, this new model had its main bulk built on the pivot on the top of it bipedal legs. Instead of two, four missile bays had been added to the back of the mobile machine. Two just beyond the cockpit and another two concealed behind a pair of shutters on the underside. The (**G)** for G.U.N was printed each side underneath the pilots cockpit window, this was the latest piece of G.U.N weaponry. Their latest combat walker, adapted with technology collected when they studied Omega.

The pilot himself was a mobian bat with chestnut brown fur and flaxen yellow eyes, his mouth and shoulders concealed by a thick red drape that he'd wrapped around his neck. Two large, black, leathery wings pressed flat against the seat. Before anyone of his targets could react to his sudden appearance, he'd already targeted ten of them and pressed the missile fire button.

Fire exploded through the air, providing the new walker perfect concealment, revealing another of its traits, superior speed. It had longer, thinner legs than the other mobile walkers which enabled the machine to run across the battlefield, crossing the distance between him and the enemy in moments. By the time any of them had cleared the smoke screen; the Captain had sneaked around their flank and was giving them hell.

"Pilot, identify yourself." Omegas signal was able to reach him even with the radio off. The bat looked doubt the pilot window towards the robot who was still fighting with his bare talons, spreading and tearing huge chucks of metal out of any Dreadnaught that got too close.

"What's in the name?" He asked, before making sure all com signals to his Mobile walker had been disabled.

"Who is that pilot?" General Saddler demanded, staring angrily out of the window of his office on the far side of the base as the new mobile walker, which was still supposed to be in testing stages tear in through masses of Dreadnaughts. General Saddler was the current G.U.N commander. "I what to know who he is, now!"

"Captain Okida sir." One of the soldiers told him. "He's from the Freelance division. He's the pilot who was scheduled to test the Dead Shot." General Saddler. Like most high ranking G.U.N generals was a human. Dressed in a shark blue military uniform, his eyes staring out from under the rim of his hat.

"Sir, incoming from Air force one." Someone shouted up. The control room of the base was currently in chaos as personnel struggled to maintain the defence. "They want to be informed of the situation."

"Is the President unharmed?"

"Yes sir. The plane turned away from the base as soon as the alarm was raised."

"Good. Get a security team over there to protect the President. In the mean time, give the Captain and Omega some cover fire."

* * *

Shadow's punch was deflected and Emerl countered with an attack of his own, a flying metal fist that missed the black hedgehog at first, curved through the air like a boomerang and hit him in the back of the head.

Rebounding off a rock, Shadow somersaulted into the air, arched his back before firing a chaos spear directly at the robot. Who's imply twisted every movable part of his body around, repealing the attack before retaliating.

Shadow was quick to realize that this robot was not like the other Eggman had in command. He was stronger, faster and annoyingly persistent. Emerl shot around and fired another hand from his arm that latched onto Shadow's ankle and tossed him up into the air. Colliding with a few thick branches, the black hedgehog got the wind knocked out of him. But Emerl wasn't finished there, with his grip still on him; he brought him back down and dunked him several times in the water before smashing his head against a hard rock.

Shadow groaned, rubbing the back of his quills as Emerl retracted his hand. A definite change in strategy was going to have to be utilised if he was going up beat this one. Pushing himself back onto his feet, his fur matted, clinging to his skin. A sudden burst from the soles of his shoes propelled him forward at lighting fast speed, allowing him to get inside the robot's defence's and deal him a crushing knee to the chest, then to follow up a kick across the head, causing him to spiral sideways.

Emerl's sensors had read that blow at level 7, strength exceeding any expectations the data within his data banks would allow. Simply overpowering was not going to work; this hedgehog's strength rivalled his own. Righting himself, Emerl fired both hands at Shadow, who batted them both aside with a lightning fast kick before sliding across the water's face, trying to get in close to take advantage of the moment. Emerl however was ready, leaping backward at the last moment as his hands returned to him. Now in the air, the robot activated a technique that the original Emerl had downloaded from Sonic himself. His body curved itself over, forming a tight ball and he began spinning, the momentum keeping him in place for a second before rocketing at full speed straight at Shadow.

Not expecting the attack, Shadow was caught completely off guard. The blow sent him flying through the air, leaving him entangled in some overhanging in vines like some abandoned puppet.

"Emerl stop it!" Cream screamed at him as the robot went in for the kill while Shadow was weakened. To both her and Emerl's surprise, he did stop. He found himself obeying her orders without question. He actually turned away from Shadow and dropped back down to the ground, staring at her. Again the original Emerl's memories came into play and it took everything the robot had to shake them off.

A loud scream echoed across the swamp as Shadow's body was suddenly surrounded by a ball of golden yellow pulsating energy, shattering the vines and powering up his Chaos Spear attack. Emerl only looked up in time to see the arrow of chaos energy come screaming at him, although that did not leave the robot with enough time to avoid it. The blast collided with him head on, sending him flying into the canopy of the trees, disappearing from view.

"Ok, that is it!" Shadow said between clenched teeth. This robot had really, really pissed him off, which was probably not a smart thing to do. Cream wanted to tell him Shadow to stop, but before she could say anything, the black hedgehog launched him into the trees after Emerl.

Tails had been watching from behind the damaged Cyclone and from his position, he could hear the two of them fighting just beyond their sights. Occasionally the leaves here and there would shake as some form of punch or kick occurred. Suddenly, there was silence and Cream held her breath. Tails climbed to the top of the rock they had crashed nearby, trying to see if he could see anything else. Just as he did so, a pair of black objects came hurtling down, splashing down in the water. The fox managed to make out a blur of kicks and punches as the two vanished again into the water, the splash soaking his fur.

A second later, the black Emerl was sent flying out the water spiralling through the air before colliding with a tree, knocking it over. Shadow surface, trying to shake as much water as he could out of his black fur. Emerl was lying at the base of a shattered tree trunk, struggling to get up, before the backup power supply kicked in and he pushed himself to his feet.

"Emerl stop, haven't you done enough?" Cram asked, putting herself in between the robot and Shadow.

"CHAO CHAO!" Cheese said in agreement.

"Cream, what the heck are you doing?" Tails began. Shadow simply blinked in surprise.

"You know this robot?" Cream nodded in reply. Emerl stood here, staring right at her. Why did this rabbit hold such significance for the original Emerl that his very memories had distracted him during the fight? The black Emerl did not understand. There was a sudden click as Eggman's control program came back on line, overriding any self though process' the black Emerl had. His eyes glowed bright red and without a single moments hesitation he charged forward, knocking the rabbit girl over and dived straight at Shadow.

* * *

His full name was Koji Naoko Okida; only recently delivered onto Earth when the two worlds merged into one. He had been one of the few mobians, apart from Sonic and his friends, who had ever stood up to the Eggman Empire. When he arrived here, he had hoped to escape the Empire once and for all, only to find Eggman had arrived before he had. But this world it seemed had a much greater force with which to resist him and his robotic kingdom.

It hadn't taken the vampire bat long to master the controls of the formidable weapons their military had. True they were a little too much like Eggman's roots for his liking, but after receiving a taste of the speed and firepower this Dead Shot could produce, he quickly grew accustomed to it.

A large smile spread over his face as Dreadnaught after Dreadnaught fell before his walker. His fangs glistening in the moonlight. He'd seen the report on Omega and was well aware that Eggman was the one who designed and built him. He found it hard to believe that anything built by that mad man would ever fight for them, however since the merger of the worlds he'd seen stranger things.

"Radar's clear of enemies." The com chatter told him once he'd switched the radio back one, the last remaining Dreadnaughts retreating as fast as they could to the two flying Eggman Empire ships that had remaining stationary above the base, a dozen Hot Shot Walkers on their tail. _"Back up arriving in five minutes from the north, they'll chase them for us."_ All Koji had wanted to here was, all clear. He sighed and deactivated combat mode. The walker paused, before it's long legs lowered and it reduced it's height down to near ground level. There was a short and sharp click and the glass separating the bat from the outside world slid upwards. The fresh, night air flood in, Koji unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up, stretching out his wings.

As he slid down to the ground, Omega came to a halt next to him.

"They're all talking about you, you know." The robot asked as the bat simply walked past him. Now out of the walker, the bat revealed his clothes. A pair of black leather pants and a white shirt, over which was a brown jacket. His red scarf covering his shoulders and back, his wings stretching out from under it. _"All the other pilots on the base I mean."_

"Let 'um." The bat replied, shrugging his shoulders as he walked. "Oh, tell the General that the test of the new walker went swimmingly." He added, before stretching out his wings. With a few beats, he was in the air, souring through the air with ease. As if summoned a large chopper with G.U.N markings passed over head. The loud blur of the blades resonating in the air. A sliding door opened on one side and the bat disappeared inside.

"Show off." A voice stated as someone smacked him on the back. Koji looked down to see another of the President's latest Freelancer force. Bean the Dynamite Duck. Freelance was a group put together under the direct supervision of the President, seeing how successful mobian skill and intelligence had been in confronting the Eggman Empire. "I saw that little display Captain, you made those other pilots look like toddlers." A large grin passed over the bat's face, his fangs glinting the red light that filled the interior of the transport chopper.

"That's why I'm in charge." He stated, before joining the pilots at the front of the chopper. Bark, another member of Freelance was sitting in the co-pilots seat. Topaz, a member of the Government's elitle agents and part time Freelance member was in the pilots seat, a pair of headphones over her ears. "Where's Rouge?" The vampire bat asked the Polar bear as Topaz was busy talking into a mouth piece that curved around from her headphones.

"She went on ahead to make visual confirmation of the President's safety." He replied, sitting her with his eyes closed and his arms crossed.

"So were on route to Air force one's emergency landing site?" Bark nodded.

"It was forced to make a belly landing in the mountains. The security team from the base should be there by now, our job is to simply pick up the President at then let the boys do the rest." He paused, finally opening his eyes. "I just can't understand how Eggman found the G.U.N headquarters." Koji narrowed his flaxen yellow eyes.

"I've a fair idea." He began. "But if I'm right, it may place us all in great danger."

* * *

Shadow caught the punch and brought his leg up in a sharp kick, knocking Emerl into the air again with a blow to his chest. The robot accessed his data banks again and employed another move the original copied. His left leg began completely horizon and he began spinning, his body twisting faster then the wings of a tornado. Shadow recognized it as one of Rouge's attacks. A grim smiled crossed his face as he stayed put as Emerl tore towards him, expecting his spinning kick to tear through his body with ease.

Instead, as soon as he reached Shadow, the black hedgehog simply reached out and grabbed the robot by the ankle, stopping him dead in his tracks. Now at his mercy, Shadow, still with Emerl in his grip, leapt high into the air, through the canopy and out into the sky and at one precise moment, tossed Emerl as high as he could towards the clouds.

Shadow wasn't finished. As he fell, he let his arms trail out by his sides, fingers arched as a ball of chaos energy gathered between them. This was a new technique he had just made up, the double Chaos Spear.

Clapping his hands together, merging the two attacks into one, he forced them away from his body and straight towards the falling robot. The deadly projectile collided with Emerl and the ensuing explosion that shook the trees and ground below, knocked him out of a steady fall into a plummet. Shadow had just enough time to sneer at him as his burning remains disappeared from view, before the black hedgehog re-entered the canopy.

"Shadow, you ok?" Tails asked as the hedgehog landed back down in the water with a loud splash, crouching before standing backup. Shadow was about to answer before a metal fist came flying out of nowhere, hitting him in the back of the head and knocking him down. Emerl charged back through the trees, all three of his eyes glowing bright red.

"I will be once I render that robot a useless robotic scrap heap." The hedgehog snarled inn reply, leaping up and firing another chaos spear attack directly at him. Emerl batted the energy blast aside with a swing of his arm.

The two opponents lunged at each other, exchanging punches before tackling each other's arms, a power struggling occurring as each tried to topple the other.

"That's enough!" Cream cried. Eggman's control program held up and Emerl kept his concentration on the fight. "Stop it, STOP IT NOW!" Something from deep within the robot was yelling out, trying to tell him something, but again the control Eggman had on him held up, keeping him fighting. Shadow tried to push forward, hoping his legs would buckle, but experienced no such luck. "You were my friend Emerl, even if you turned out to be a bad guy, I don't want to see you get hurt!" There was that word again, _'Friend.' _In that spilt second, Emerl's concentration lapsed and Shadow forced his way forward, taking hold of the robot's body and throwing him backwards. Emerl slid across the water, only to have the black hedgehog rush at him, dart behind him a land the strongest punch he could muster against the back of his neck.

The blow had done far much more than physical damage. The data banks that held all the accumulative information gathered during any fight came on line by itself, overriding Eggman's command program and the memory files belonging to the original Emerl flashed up on the robots internal server screen. Flashing images that vanished and came within moments, images showing happiness, contentment and a peaceful existence, all involving the rabbit designate: Cream.

Memories of emotions, which he had never known since coming online. It seemed so alien at first, but as the images continued he began to understand that these images were not destroying him, rather elevating. He could nearly feel Dr. Eggman's control over him beginning to erode slowly. Suddenly, the ultimate truth was revealed to him. There had never been, at any point, two Emerl's. Only one, recovered by Eggman after being defeated by Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge then being rebuilt to fight again for the mad man. Finally now the black Emerl understood, he was the original.

Cream watched in a mixture of amazement and horror as Emerl twitched in the air for a single second, before falling to the swamp floor, sinking into the thick stagnant water.

"EMERL!" She yelled, running over with her Chao following. The robot was lying on his back in the water like some inanimate corpse. Shadow paused to stetched his muscle before striding through the water, just to make sure that this time the robot would not get back up. "Emerl, come on. Don't go away again." Tails flew over, his unique ability keeping him from getting his feet wet.

Emerl's eyes clarifying from red to blue, the robot blinked and looked up at her. There was a sudden silence and it seemed not even the swamp around them was making a noise. Cream could feel her heart thumping hard in her chest as the robot straightened up, looking around confused. Suddenly, it noticed her presence and turned to face her.

Shadow was more than ready to resume a fight, his fists clenched by his sides. But there wasn't any need anymore. Emerl made his way to his feet unsteadily, his eyes on Cream all the time. Gently, he offered her his hand and Cream recognised the gesture.

When she had first found the robot hidden behind a group of bushes on the Thorndyke estate, she had offered him her hand before taking him to meet the others. Whatever hold Eggman had had on him had shattered. A single tear ran down her cheek. She had her friend back.

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

So Cream's got her old friend back. Or has she. Eggman's not about to give up his strongest robot without a fight! See what happens next time on Sonic X, A Test of Faith! Don't miss it!

* * *

(Hope people didn't mind the self insertion. Koji will be important to the plot, but not for a while yet. Hope you liked him. How many people have noticed that Chris hasn't appeared in this whole saga yet?)

Koji Okida copyright to me


	21. Episode 11, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

Episode 11: A Test of Faith

Last time on Sonic X:

* * *

Cream watched in a mixture of amazement and horror as Emerl twitched in the air for a single second, before falling to the swamp floor, sinking into the thick stagnant water.

"EMERL!" She yelled, running over with her Chao following. The robot was lying on his back in the water like some inanimate corpse. Shadow paused to stetched his muscle before striding through the water, just to make sure that this time the robot would not get back up. "Emerl, come on. Don't go away again." Tails flew over, his unique ability keeping him from getting his feet wet.

Emerl's eyes clarifying from red to blue, the robot blinked and looked up at her. There was a sudden silence and it seemed not even the swamp around them was making a noise. Cream could feel her heart thumping hard in her chest as the robot straightened up, looking around confused. Suddenly, it noticed her presence and turned to face her.

Shadow was more than ready to resume a fight, his fists clenched by his sides. But there wasn't any need anymore. Emerl made his way to his feet unsteadily, his eyes on Cream all the time. Gently, he offered her his hand and Cream recognised the gesture.

When she had first found the robot hidden behind a group of bushes on the Thorndyke estate, she had offered him her hand before taking him to meet the others. Whatever hold Eggman had had on him had shattered. A single tear ran down her cheek. She had her friend back.

* * *

Shadow found it extremely hard to believe that this robot…thing… used to be Cream's friend. He had heard of Emerl and his relationship with Cream from Sonic, but this seemed too convenient. Well, if Metal Sonic could change, he supposed there was hope for this guy. So instead of obeying his first instinct and blasting the robot with the biggest Chaos Spear he could muster, he sat down next to the damaged Cyclone while Tails worked on the engine, his eyes never leaving the black and gold robot for an instant.

"Well, so much for that." Tails stated as the engine spat a fat cloud of smoke in his face. "Unless I get this back to the workshop, it's a goner." He paused to wipe an oil stain from the fur on his cheek. "I'll try radioing for help." Shadow hadn't heard that last bit. He could here something moving at high speed, coming in from the distance. Whatever it was, it was fast enough to shatter the sound barrier as a loud sonic boom echoed across the canopy of the swamp a moment later. There was only one other person besides himself who could do that.

The air rippled and a blue blur darted through the trees, a red sneaker put forward as Sonic slid to a halt, coming knee deep in the stagnant water.

"Disgusting!" He commented, looking down. Then he noticed the smell. "Whoa, who cut the cheese?"

"And just where have you been this past hour?" Shadow asked as the blue hedgehog approached, pulling himself out of the water and up onto the large rock.

"Being chased by Eggman's battleship, so I could ask you the same question." He stated with a smug smile on his face. Shadow simply glared at him and said nothing. "Chuck sent me here; he got a bit worried when he lost the Cyclone's signal. He'll be here in a few minutes with the X-Tornado, he and Tanaka finally got it workable."

"About time." Tails stated, looking up from his work. "How did getting that Chaos Emerald in the mountains go, anyway?" Sonic hesitated, before a nervous smile spread over his lips.

"Great. Couldn't have gone better!"

"You lost it didn't you?" Shadow asked, his head leaning on his hand. The blue hedgehog laughed nervously before sighing and nodding. "Great, so Eggman has a grand total of…three Chaos Emerald's now. And all we have is one." The black hedgehog looked up at the sky, rolling his eyes. "So far, not a good start." Sonic didn't reply. The one sided conversation between Cream and Emerl had finally caught his attention. He stared for a few moments, before putting his arms behind his head and lying back.

"I've seen weirder things." He stated, before closing his eyes. That was the one thing about Sonic that really baffled Shadow. The blue hedgehog's ability to accept and interact with the environment around him no matter how bizarre it seemed at first. "Oh, before I forget. Why is Emerl not trying to kill us?" Shadow simply shrugged and lay down next to him.

"Don't know. Don't want to know." He replied. Sonic decided not to press for a more detailed answer, not that he ever expected Shadow to give one. A few minutes later, like Sonic said, Tails sighted the X tornado overhead. Chuck leaned over the pilot's window to wave down at them. Unfortunately, there was so much foliage that it was impossible for him to land it. So instead, he left the plane in it's unique hover mode and Amy lowered cables down to help hoist the Cyclone out of it's crash site. To their amazement, Emerl actually helped. There was tension around the robot, who had been their enemy not long ago. Although Sonic did point out that they gave Metal Sonic a chance, so they should lay off him.

"Word of advice Cream," Chuck stated as the rabbit climbed into the plane as Emerl lifted her up. "Give your mother the biggest puppy dog eyes expression you can muster when we get back." Cream laughed nervously.

"She's not angry is she?" Chuck paused for a minute before saying…

"Let's just say I'm glad I'm not you right about now." There was a short flash of green light and Shadow appeared on the nose of the plane, standing there with his arms crossed.

"Come on, I've not got all day. Let's get this show on the road."

"Keep your pants on Mister Sunshine." Sonic commented as he any Amy finished attaching the ruined Cyclone to the side of the X tornado with the cables. "Ok, you finished Amy?" He asked, looking over the pink hedgehog's end of the Cyclone. She looked up and winked at him. "Alright, we're ready to go now."

"Finally!" Shadow muttered, rolling his eyes. Chuck looked back towards Emerl, who was sitting inside the second pod with Cream and Amy.

"Once we get back to the workshop, I should be able to remove or de-install any control programs Eggman may have placed into his systems." He stated as Tails climbed into the pilot seat.

"Anything to stop him from going nuts again…" The fox commented as he took the controls. Within minutes, being the experienced pilot he was, Tails had them out of the swamp like region, heading back towards the mountainous ridge to the west.

* * *

"Ok Captain." The President began, interlocking his fingers. "I'm all ears." About twenty four hours ago, the Captain of the Freelance division had requested a meeting with the President. Since he was already up to his ears in managing nation defence, this was the first piece of free time he had. He was already nervous-wreak badly in need of sleep.

"Sorry to take up your time sir. But I need to speak with you about the attack of G.U.N headquarters." Koji Naoko Okida stated. "I believe the situation to be far more dangerous than it first appears." The President had rings under his eyes again and it was coming close to election time and wasn't finding the time to put his political campaign together. His personnel aid, Christina Cooper had to do it for him. Not only that, but the general public was rapidly loosing confidence in his ability to defend the country from the attacks made by Dr. Eggman. If he didn't do something drastic to raise public moral, he would most probably be voted out of office.

There was a sudden loud bang as the door to the oval office was flung open and General Saddler, the current head of the militaries operations came into the room. Fury etched into his face.

"You Captain, are on the verge of a court-martial." The bat simply leaned back in his chair, ignoring him completely. "Because of your piloting, the Dead Shot walker had to undergo a complete…

"General, if you don't mind. The Captain and I are trying to have a word." The President put in sharply, his disapproval at the General's defiant stare plainly evident. "If you want to speak to Okida, then you'll have to wait until we're finished." Okida would have been included to start chuckling as the General, his eyes blazing in anger, took a seat next to him making sure the number of stars on his shoulder was pointed directly at him.

"As I was saying sir." The bat began again. "Since the attack, Freelance division has been investigating exactly how Dr. Eggman located the base." Saddler folded his arms and leaned back in his chair as the President was hung on every word. "Agent Rouge discovered that an unknown user had gained access to the satellite surveillance systems. If it was indeed Dr. Eggman, then he could easily have located the base."

"So what?" Saddler asked. "If that's true, then all we have to do is upgrade system security.

"That's the problem." The President began. "I already did, with the most advanced anti-hacker program in the entire world. It's literally impossible for anyone to force their way into that system."

"And he didn't." Okida stated. "Rouge also discovered that whoever gained access to the system; had an official user ID and password." The general grunted.

"That's impossible. That kind of information during war time is highly classified."

"I know." The bat began with a wide smirk. "You see, since you upgraded nation security protocols sir." He added turning to the President. "The only way Dr. Eggman could gain access to satellite surveillance is with an encrypted password that only a few people in the Government are allowed to know."

"Just what are you suggesting Captain?" General Saddler asked, narrowing an eye at the bat, whose grin smile widened, showing a pair of fangs.

"The only way Eggman could know that access password is if someone told him." The President paused as his eyes widened.

"Are you saying…?" The Captain nodded.

"Yes sir. Somewhere within G.U.N, there's an information leak."

* * *

Shadow sat with Sonic just behind the pilots pod, well obscured in his own thoughts. He had promised Sonic to help him take down Eggman first, but he couldn't help wondering exactly who or what those things that kept coming after him where. Those cloaked figures that seemed able to fly, immune to any physical attack and incredibly resilient. They were like ghosts although they were capable to hitting him much harder than any spectre.

* * *

Eventually, Shadow managed to gain control of this brawl and was narrowly avoiding the nearly invisible swipes using his in-human agility. There was timing involving in all this, these things could turn themselves solid and **_punch-able _**but only when they went for an attack. With this in mind, Shadow waited for an opening. They were rare, and when they came they passed too quickly for him to use them to his advantage, but still he waited. He kept his eyes on one of them, waiting patiently for it's time to swing. As it came forward with several others for an attack, Shadow spun around in mid air and fired a chaos Spear directly into the chest it's chest as it raised a arm to strike him. Proving his theory correct,, his attack struck him in full force and the attacker was throw by the sheer magnitude over the ground, landing with a loud thud against the desert sand. The others, seeing this display, quickly hovered backwards as their injured companion pulled himself up with a great deal of effort. His cloak and clothes underneath had been burned away on his chest, revealed a tattoo on his skin. A Chinese dragon with it's entire length wrapped around the chest, it's open mouth towered the neck.

"Unexpected skill level." One of them said.

"Even better than what we hoped for, a perfect vessel." Another replied, barley gesturing to the other one.

"Not now. It is now apparent that we need additional resources for risk free capture."

Shadow took a step forward, narrowing his eyes, fists clenched at his sides.

"Alright, enough." He said sharply, walking toward them, his fingers snapping open, the beginnings of a chaos spear beginning to form between them. "Now I want answers, who are you people and what do you want with me?" They ignored him as the downed phantom shakily began to hover with them, that dragon tattoo still striking out as an important detail.

"Abort Mission." He snapped, almost angrily, a change from its emotionless droning before.

"Agreed." They others said together and like darkness again they simply vanished, one minute there and the next gone. Shadow stood there staring in confusion at the one who remains, the one who he'd injured. He couldn't see the face behind that cloak, but he could tell the thing was sneering at him.

"Enjoy the reprieve Hedgehog, I assure you it was be brief." With that, like those before him he vanished and Shadow was left alone with questions that were so bizarre he didn't want to hear the answers.

* * *

"So, you return to seek your destiny." Metal and Shadow shot around to see five figures blocking the door, all clad in dark clocks. Shadow took a couple of steps back. These were those creeper things that attacked him on the desert road, now there was no doubt in his mind of their connection to the Foundation.

"This saves us the trouble of hunting you down." One said, the folds of his cloak rippling in the presence of some invisible wind. "Come, embrace your future."

"Fulfil your purpose and achieve greatness." Another added, all of them encircling the two of them, their feet no even touching the ground as they floated by some dark means.

"It thought I made it perfectly clear I'm not interested." Several of them laughed at Shadow retort.

"You speak as if you have control over your future."

* * *

The Foundation Organisation had been the finical backers of Project Shadow. Prof. Gerald had been using their money to fund his research, but when they discovered that Gerald was trying to create a creature that would cure his granddaughter Maria of her fatal illness, they pulled the plug. Invaded the Space Colony ARK, shut down the project and left Maria for death.

Shadow realized that he should, by all rights, be angry at them. But he found that he had exhausted his ability to hate. Maria had made him promise to stop hating people, no matter what they may have done in the past and he intended to make good on that promise.

"Earth to Mister Ultimate Life form." Shadow blinked and finally Sonic got his attention. "Never picked you as the sort to day dream, Shadow." The blue Hedgehog added, narrowing an eye. Shadow simply smirked and turned to face the wind blowing in his face, running vigorously through his quills. Faint, near invisible traces of cloud whipping around them. "I was saying, if you can sense Chaos Emeralds, then can you tell if we're around one now?"

"I didn't sense any before, so I doubt if…" He didn't finish the sentence. Without warning, three Chaos signatures made themselves known to him. And the odd thing was that they were coming from directly behind them and getting closer.

Looking back, all he could see behind them was a thick cloud bank that looked like it might start raining at any moment. Still, he could sense the presence of three Chaos Emeralds. "Er…Shadow?" Sonic asked, but the black hedgehog ignored him and kept staring. Then his eyes widened as the cloud began to break, the tip of an enormous metal ship lanced out of the clouds.

**"Heeeeeeeeereeeeee's EGGMAN!"**A loud booming voice that seemed to speak from the sky stated as a dark shadow eclipse the sun. Sonic clenched both fists and looked back to follow Shadow's gaze to see the giant battleship known only as the Egg Carrier 3 following them, it's enormous bulk bursting through the clouds, the metallic skin glinting in the last says of sunlight that escaped the horizon. A colossal metal giant looming behind their plane which was tiny by comparison, threatening to strike them down. "Did you serious think I wouldn't keep my eye on you Emerl?" Dr. Eggman asked, staring down at them through the means of a loud speaker built into the Egg Carrier's underside. "You disobeyed my commands once; I'm here to make sure that never happens again!"

"Doctor, I'm reading a Chaos Emerald signature instead that small plane." Decoe stated, looking up briefly. The mad scientist rubbed his hands together.

"Even better, this way I can kill two birds with one stone." He pressed a button on the end of his arm rest. "Let's see with whom Emerl's loyalties lie."

Emerl looked back towards the ship following them just in time to see three flares of light, each one radiating a different colour, fire from the underside of the Egg Carrier and come hurtling towards him. Each like a rainbow coloured torpedo. Shadow could sense tremendous amounts of chaos energy burning within them but by now it was too late to do anything. With a loud bang that echoed through the air they collided with the X-tornado.

The Chaos emeralds forced into his body, Emerl could do little to stop Eggman control program from coming back on-line. Whatever sentience he had gained was swallowed up in an instant as Sonic and Shadow's designation was changed back from friendly to hostile. All three of his eyes starting glowing bright red. Not only that, but with three Chaos Emeralds inside his body, his strength and speed increased ten fold.

"Oh I don't like where this is going." Sonic commented as Emerl threw a punch upwards, shattering the passenger pod and pushing himself out into the air.

"Emerl! Please, fight it!" Cream screamed at him, but by now the control program was so strong Emerl couldn't even hear what she was saying.

"Ok now my loyal Gizoid." Eggman began with a wide grin from ear to ear. "Destroy them, and bring me that Chaos Emerald they have in that contraption of theirs." With speed that frightened even Sonic, Emerl let a metal fist fire from his wrist. The blow collided with Shadow's head, knocking him clear over the edge of the X-tornado, sending him spiralling down towards the ground, knocked unconscious.

Out cold, Sonic realized that the black hedgehog wouldn't be able to Chaos Control his way to safety. So he'd just have to do it for him.

Sonic's entire body disappeared in a green haze a single second before another metal missile from Emerl hit the spot where he'd just been.

As Shadow's body fell, Sonic materialized just beside him. Grabbing his arm, both he and the black hedgehog disappeared again before appearing at the back end of the X-Tornado, giving Sonic enough time to swing his leg around in an attempt to land a kick against Emerl's back. To his dismay, the robots arm shot around and grabbed his foot.

"Oh hell." He stated, before the robot tossed him over his shoulder, smashing his front against what remained of the passenger pod.

"Chuck, a hand please." Tails began as the fox began rummaging through the multitude of wires just below the planes controls. "I have an idea to get the old Emerl back." He added, noticing the human scientists questioningly expression. "Or if not that, then get him off the X-Tornado. We can't fight him here; he could end up causing us to crash."

"Right, so what's the plan?"

"Plan? I'm making this up as I go along!"

"Your statement hardly fills me with confidence!"

* * *

**Flip Card 1:**

Name: Super Emerl

Age: A few seconds

Species: Robot

Job description: When Emerl absorbs the energies of two or more Chaos Emeralds, his fighting potential increasing dramatically.

* * *


	22. Episode 11, part 2

(Boy this is a long Saga: I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

* * *

Flip Card 2:

Name: Dr. Eggman

Age: 45

Sex: Male

Species: Human

Job Description: An official evil genius. Doctor Eggman's lost life ambition is to rule the world, on the throne of his Empire, but his various schemes have been constantly thwarted by a certain blue hedgehog.

* * *

"This could be going better." Sonic commented, wiping a thin trickle of blood from the side of his mouth with the back of a glove. He knew he had to take this fight away from the X tornado before Emerl tore it to pieces. Only problem was, right now Emerl couldn't even be touched let alone tackled over the edge of the plane. And with the Egg Carrier 3 looming behind them, the blue hedgehog was quickly to realise the seriousness of the situation. He really could use Shadow's help right about now, but at the moment the black and red hedgehog was unconscious in the passenger pod, recovering from the massive bolt Emerl had dealt him a few moments ago. Suddenly an idea sprung to mind. At the moment however, Sonic did not have the necessary energy to pull it off.

Pushing himself up, Sonic turned to confront the super powered robot. Cream was screaming at her friend, trying to bring back his reason. Her words were wasted. Eggman's control over him was now far too powerful.

Tails finally connected the last wire and everything was ready. He had a collection of six rings on board the X-tornado, and if this didn't work there was little else he could do.

Chuck hit the button and the energy of two rings was sent flying directly into Emerl's body. But not to make his stronger, instead its purpose was to find the control program Eggman was using on him and weaken it. Emerl paused, its red eyes turning blue. Unfortunately, the power of a ring is nothing to the power of a chaos emerald. Emerl's three eyes turned red again. It failed miserable to free Emerl, but it did manage to loosen the shackles for the Emerl inside to slow the punches his body was throwing.

"Well that didn't work." Chuck began, seeing that Emerl was still fighting regardless of their efforts. "I feel a change is strategy is called for." Tails hurriedly put together another plan. If the rings couldn't free Cream's friend from Eggman, they would just have to work their usual magic with Sonic.

"Sonic think fast!" Tails shouted from the front and instantly the blue hedgehog felt new strength fill him. He looked back to see that the Tails and Chuck had attached four Rings to the X-Tornado's power amplifier, that they were directing directly towards him. Tails had done a similar thing when they had first taken the X-Tornado out to fight Eggman satellite devouring robot.

"Thanks, just what I needed." He replied, clenching his fists, his reserves of strength completely recharged. Now he had the energy he needed to work his plan "Once I disappear, get out of here as quickly as you can, go it?" Tails paused for a second, hesitating. Then he nodded. Before Amy could argue, Sonic charged forward, tackling Emerl around the waist. The robot raised a fist to strike the blue hedgehog, but before he could do son, the two of them disappeared in a bright green flash.

At the tip above the cannon of the Egg Carrier, the air rippled as both Emerl and Sonic were thrown from the hastily activated Chaos Control warp. The robot back flipped through the air and landed on his feet, while Sonic rolled for a while before righting himself.

So, now they were off the X-Tornado, putting the others out of immediate danger. Only problem being now that Sonic lacked any long term plan to defeat Emerl now. With three Chaos Emeralds inside his body, his strength and speed had been augmented.

"Come on Emerl, I know you're not really like this. Metal Sonic broke free, so can you!" Emerl lunged forward, striking the hedgehog across the face, knocking him to the metal floor. Sonic was sure his tooth had been dislodged that time and his head was pounding. Emerl came forward again, trying to finish Sonic with another punch, but Sonic rolled to the side just in time before righting himself with a flip.

Emerl swung around with a kick, Sonic dodged it before swinging one of his own. The blow barley made the robot flinch, before he threw another super strong punch forward. Sending Sonic flying into the air, spiralling dangerously out of control before landing dangerously close to the edge of the Egg Carrier. Back flipping up to his feet, nearly tipping himself over the edge, Sonic raced forward and a fist drawn back. Emerl prepared a block, only to have a double kick come his way instead. The robot staggered back a few feet, before swinging forward. Sonic dodged the blow, somersaulting backwards. Emerl came forward again with a lightning fast kick. Sonic caught his foot and held onto it for dear life, that if until Emerl lifted his leg into the air, dragging Sonic along with it, before slamming it down again on the ground.

Emerl came in for the kill, but without warning there was a green flash and Shadow came hurtling out of nowhere, delivering a Chaos Spear straight against the back of his head. Emerl crashed to the ground.

"Sorry I'm late. Just woke up." He said, looking back over his shoulder towards the blue hedgehog as he pushed himself up.

"About time too." Sonic commented. "I could use your help. But remember, we can't destroy him."

"Say what?"

"It's not his fault. Eggman's controlling him." Shadow narrowed his eyes. Prof. Gerald would be ashamed to see the kind of tactics his grandson was employing. "Ok buddy, I know you're in there." The blue hedgehog shouted over. "You're Cream's friend. Don't forget that." Emerl paused and it looked like his eyes were about to change from red to blue. That is until he charged forward, landing a blow against into Shadow's chest, winding him. Sonic used the opportunity to curve his entire body around in an arch, rocketing his spin attack straight at the robot.

Emerl spun around and used the thick armour on one arm to absorb the physical blow as the other arm swung around and batted the hedgehog into the metal ground.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" Emerl shot back around as several golden yellow spikes of chaos energy collided with his body, knocking him sideways. Shadow tried to move in to assault him again by someone laid a line of missile fire straight across his path. There was a loud rumbling and a large, tank like robot burst out from a side door in the Egg Carrier. The words: E1003, Tau engraved in its chest plate. "Out of my way." The black hedgehog demanded. Tau, who had no intention of obeying orders from anyone but Eggman, simply fired another barrage of missiles at him.

Struggling to right himself, Sonic realized that this was a fight he had little to no chance of actually winning. Emerl was now as strong as Knuckles, as fast as him and was under Dr. Eggman's direct control. He looked up, Emerl was not standing directly over him, all three eye glowing bright red.

"Emerl…" He began weakly. "Fight it…" A loud whirring sound filled the air and a flying robot that looked like a large television screen flew next to them. The screen flipped on, showing Eggman himself. His grin couldn't have been wider.

_"You look depressed Hedgehog. Don't sulk, I mean, someone had to win."_ Sonic bared his teeth and tired to get up, but hic arms gave way, causing him to collapse. This was embarrassing. Emerl had only landed a few blows and already he felt like he'd gone one on one with Metal Sonic for three hours. "And now Emerl, finish off the job." Obeying the order, the robot took a step forward and lifted a metal fist up, pausing for a moment to gather the strength to crush Sonic's head into a bloody pulp.

The blue hedgehog was trying his best to get up and move, but by now it was too late.

A short image of Cream flashed up on his internal screen and Emerl came to realise the true importance of a single word.

No. A simple two letter word.

But for Emerl, it took all his will power just to act upon it. He had let Cream down too many times, now would not be one of them. His eyes faded from red to blue and slowly he turned to face Eggman's face. He shook his head. The smile on the scientists face shrank very quickly into a frown. _"I gave you a direct order Gizoid, finish the Hedgehog now!"_ Again Emerl shook his eyes. Eggman narrowed his eyes in anger. _"How dare you disobey my orders. I never should have rebuilt a defective piece of junk like you. Perhaps, once the rabbit I saw in your memories so much is destroyed, you'll start behaving properly." _His face turned off screen towards the two hence bots in the Bridge. _"Prepare to fire the Cannon at the X-Tornado."_

"But Doctor." Decoe began, looking up. "We can't, you transferred the Chaos Emeralds that we have to Emerl. There isn't anything left to power the cannon." Eggman clenched his fists, realizing his mistake.

"There should still be enough residual energy left for one final operation. More than enough to wipe that plane out of existence."

"Eye Eye sir."

Sonic felt the ground beneath him shake and the two halves of the door that concealed the Egg Carrier's cannon before to pull open. He was going to fire it! Sonic looked back over his shoulder to see that the X-Tornado, while it had cleared some distance, was no where near out of firing range yet. He had to stop the cannon from firing. A loud buzzing began to hang in the air as the needle point within the cannon itself began to heat up with whatever energy the Egg Carrier had gathered from the Chaos Emeralds it had had on board.

As he tired to push himself to his feet, Emerl grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and without a moments hesitation tossed him over the edge of the ship. Sonic just enough time to look back, to see that Emerl's eyes was blue not red, before he disappeared, falling towards the ground. He was there only for a moment before whatever energy had had left was used up in a Chaos Control.

* * *

Emerl watched him disappear, before turning back to look down at the cannon. It was gathering strength, and by now Eggman probably had their plane in his cross-heirs. He knew what he had to do to stop it and save his friend, but he was…afraid to do it. He shook his head. No, he couldn't be thinking like that now. He had a purpose and he had to fulfil it. Before taking off, he took the time to do something he should have done a long time ago. Using the power of the Chaos Emeralds inside him to boast his free will, he deleted Dr. Eggman's control program.

Shadow slid to the side, using his speed to put himself well beyond the touch of the Tau robot. Compared to him it was slow and cumbersome, not to mention easily dealt with.

The robot fired several missiles in his direction, all of which Shadow skated around before advancing forward in a second and landing a chaos spear straight against the arm on one side, severing it from the metal torso. Realizing that dragging his fight out was not a smart thing to do in the present circumstance, a simple Chaos Control put him behind it and a Chaos spear right down its back, severing its large metal torso from it's tank like bottom finished the job.

"What the heck is going on?" He asked out loud, standing over the wreckage as the ground beneath his began to rumble and shake. A dangerous amount of Chaos energy he could sense was building up at the front of the ship. It was too dangerous to stay here any longer. Something very bad was about to happen. Chaos Control consumed his body and he disappeared, warping through space to arrive directly back on the X-tornado, a considerable distance away from the ship itself. Sonic was already here, covered his bruises and being fussed over by Amy. From here, he could see the front end of the giant vessel had spilt in half, revealing a large needle that was pointed directly at them. A large amount of energy gathering inside it. He shuddered, a miniature Eclipse Cannon.

It was almost a certainty that this plane was that weapons target. Cream looked up, seeing Shadow's arrival.

"Where's Emerl?" She asked, her eyes filled with fear.

* * *

Standing inside the core of the cannon, Emerl could see the giant needle gathering energy and preparing to fire. Purple bolts of lighting dancing from the needle to the outside wall and back again. All so Dr. Eggman could control him. He would not allow that. He was free now, and he was going to make sure that his freedom did not come at the cost of his friend's life. With three Chaos emeralds inside him, the blast he could create would be more than enough to end this. Turning inwards, his began the countdown, setting it at a delay of ten seconds.

During that time, he marched down the service catwalk towards the very heart of Eggman's weapon. He knew that the Doctor would not be able to produce another of this weapon when it was destroyed. The technology was far too complex to duplicate more than once. And for some reason, that thought made him feel satisfied. He could feel it coming on now, the energy gathering inside his body, reaching critical levels. His metal frame couldn't contain it anymore and parts of it began to break off, large streams of light lancing out of the wounds. His entire body glowing a bright red that was steadily increasing.

Only several seconds left. Emerl looked back one last time towards the X-Tornado in the distance that carried his friend. One second left, he crossed his arms and then shot a contempt full glare upwards the cannon, his body burning with white hot uncontrollable chaos energy. And then, it happened.

Cream looked back from the X-tornado to see the front of the Egg Carrier explode in a fire storm. Both doors that covered the cannon was blow completely off by the blast, the giant metal pieces falling to the ground in flames. Thousands of robots that formed the crew of the ship were thrown out from the giant wound, falling like metal rain.

The entire ship shook violently. As the back feed through the cannon systems destroyed most of the weapons interior, the shock wave from the explosion reached the plane, learning making Tails loose control of it. The three Chaos Emeralds, now free from Emerl's body, were flung through the air, hurtling like asteroids through the atmosphere. All heading in an opposite direction from each other, disappearing on the horizon with a loud sonic boom.

As the chain reaction shot back through the Egg Carrier, one of it's wings that was tucked at it's side was thrown clear off, landing on the ground with a deafeningly loud thud on the swamp ground below, sinking nearly completely. It's balance upset, the Egg Carrier seemed to lurch to one side, looking like it was going to tip over and crash into the ground at any point.

"The cannon had been completely destroyed Doctor." Becoe reported, the only sensors now working on the ship flashing up on his terminal. "And the Egg Carrier's hardly keeping in the air as it is. All systems are at critical tolerance levels." Furious, Eggman smashed his fists into his arm rests, denting the metal. Screaming out load. "We have to retreat and repair the ship sir." Decoe added. Eggman just kept cursing into the air and the two robots just punched in the orders anyway. The ship, bleeding from its front end, turned away as fast as it could, almost limping away as it turned and fled back into the clouds.

Huge pillars of smoke rising from the wreckage it had left behind, tall black columns reaching into the sky, intense fires burning below. The Egg Carrier hadn't been defeated, but it had been destroyed, but it had been severely damaged and Sonic guessed that was the best result they could hope for. No doubt by now Eggman was tearing hair out of his moustache.

"Where's Emerl?" Cream asked again. Sonic, with an aching back and arms looked back, hesitating. He'd know exactly what Emerl had been planning to do when he tossed him off the edge of the Egg Carrier. It hadn't been to attack him, only to keep him safe when the robot self-destructed. And with three Chaos Emeralds fuelled the explosion, Emerl must have known it was the only way to stop the cannon from firing. "He's gone isn't he?" She asked, finally spotting the glint of truth in Sonic's eyes. Sonic paused only for a moment, before nodding. Cream was deadly quiet, her face not showing any emotion what so ever.

"I'm so sorry Cream." Amy said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Chao Chao." Cheese added in agreement. Cream remained silent for a single second only, before she finally broke down crying.

* * *

(In Chris' Voice.)

Poor Cream. She's lost Emerl twice now, or has she? Find out what happens next time on Sonic X the End of the Emerl Saga, The Final Twist. Don't miss it!


	23. Episode 12, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X, Etc.)

S.O.N.IC GO!

S.O.N.IC GO!

GO,GO,GO,GO LET'S GO!

* * *

Last time on Sonic X

* * *

Only several seconds left. Emerl looked back one last time towards the X-Tornado in the distance that carried his friend. One second left, he crossed his arms and then shot a contempt full glare upwards the cannon, his body burning with white hot uncontrollable chaos energy. And then, it happened.

Cream looked back from the X-tornado to see the front of the Egg Carrier explode in a fire storm. Both doors that covered the cannon was blow completely off by the blast, the giant metal pieces falling to the ground in flames. Thousands of robots that formed the crew of the ship were thrown out from the giant wound, falling like metal rain.

The entire ship shook violently. As the back feed through the cannon systems destroyed most of the weapons interior, the shock wave from the explosion reached the plane, learning making Tails loose control of it. The three Chaos Emeralds, now free from Emerl's body, were flung through the air, hurtling like asteroids through the atmosphere. All heading in an opposite direction from each other, disappearing on the horizon with a loud sonic boom.

As the chain reaction shot back through the Egg Carrier, one of it's wings that was tucked at it's side was thrown clear off, landing on the ground with a deafeningly loud thud on the swamp ground below, sinking nearly completely. It's balance upset, the Egg Carrier seemed to lurch to one side, looking like it was going to tip over and crash into the ground at any point.

"Where's Emerl?" Cream asked again. Sonic, with an aching back and arms looked back, hesitating. He'd know exactly what Emerl had been planning to do when he tossed him off the edge of the Egg Carrier. It hadn't been to attack him, only to keep him safe when the robot self-destructed. And with three Chaos Emeralds fuelled the explosion, Emerl must have known it was the only way to stop the cannon from firing. "He's gone isn't he?" She asked, finally spotting the glint of truth in Sonic's eyes. Sonic paused only for a moment, before nodding. Cream was deadly quiet, her face not showing any emotion what so ever.

"I'm so sorry Cream." Amy said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Chao Chao." Cheese added in agreement. Cream remained silent for a single second only, before she finally broke down crying.

* * *

Episode 12: The Final Twist

None of them had seen Cream for three days now. She and her mother had just disappeared. Not so much as a letter or a telephone call. Amy had tried calling to see how she was, but Vanilla had repeated time after time that her daughter simply wasn't up to talking to anyone right now.

"Chaoooo." Turel began as the pink hedgehog put down the phone for the third time today. A sad look on her face. The hero chao was wondering when Cheese was coming around again and couldn't comprehend the situation in it's entirety. Amy simply patted his head and walked off. Tails had agreed to let her stay in his workshop until she could find another apartment. Her old one had been destroyed by Metal Overlord's attack on Station Square.

She had seen little of Tails today either. This morning he'd come up from his main workshop in a hurry, nearly poured ketchup into his cereal and then disappeared with his breakfast back down the flip. She could hear the sounds of heavy machinery working from down there and deuced that he was working on something big. It couldn't be the X-tornado or the Cyclone. Chuck had taken them both back to his garage to repair by himself.

There was a loud sonic boom and a blue hedgehog raced in through the front door, a trail of dead leaves coming in after him before he shut it.

"It's getting colder out there." He said, shaking his quills dislodging a few more leaves. There were two bags of groceries in his arms.

"You were quick." Amy commented. Sonic smirked.

"It's my job." A quick glint of green light manifested a few feet above the floor and Shadow appeared, also carrying several bags. Something so out of character for him Amy had to suppress a violent fit of giggles. "You have to make an impressive entrance don't you?" Sonic asked, putting the bags on the unit inside the kitchen area. Shadow didn't reply. He had been giving Sonic the silent treatment all day. "Look, I said we'd deal with your problem once Eggman was dealt with. Chuck's asking the Government to make an official investigation and as soon as we get Tails out of his lab, we'll pay these Foundation people a little visit." Seemingly satisfied with that answer, the black hedgehog made a small smile, folded his arms and sat down on the sofa. There was a sudden loud whirring sound from below and Sonic thumped his foot against the floor a few times. "Keep it down Tails!" He yelled and the noise subsided slightly.

"Cream's still not answering any calls." Amy stated, joining Sonic in the kitchen. "Poor girl, Emerl was her best friend."

"And he sacrificed himself to save her." Sonic continued with a loud groan. "If Eggman hadn't ruined everything, he'd still be here." Through all their minds ran the images of Emerl's final moments. Eggman, forcing three Chaos Emeralds into Emerl's body regaining control of the robot and then Emerl broke free, detonating himself within the Egg Carrier's cannon to stop it from firing on Cream inside the X-tornado. Sonic had tried his best to save him, but in the end his efforts proved fruitless. This whole experience reminded Shadow of his own past so much it made him think back, to a time when he had Maria, onboard the space colony ARK. Back then he thought those peaceful times would last forever, but then it all shattered. It was foggy outside, a thick blanket of mist so concealed a traveller wouldn't have been able to see half an inch in front of his nose. Any colder and the Weather Forecast predicted snow. They were already down for a heavy snow fall during the quickly approaching winter.

"Think we should pay her a visit?" Sonic asked. Amy shook her head.

"She needs a little more time. If we don't hear from her in a few days, then we go and see of she's alright." Sonic narrowed an eye at her

"You sound as if you've had a little experience about this sort of thing.

"It doesn't take experience to be considerate and mindful of ones feelings." Shadow shuddered again. Maria had often spoke similar words to him. For a single moment, he was certain he could see her faint image in the frosty glass of the window.

Caught up in their own thoughts, none of them really noticed that the sound coming from the lab below had stopped. Down in his main workshop, Tails removed the goggles from his eyes and smiled. He was crouched over the large metal table in the centre of his lab, a set of large mechanical arms reaching down from the ceiling. A set of controls at the side managing them, allowing the fox to do his work several times faster. A humanoid figure was lying out across the table, a series of wires and cables ran from a hole in it's chest to the large machinery around them. Tails had the sudden urge to yell 'IT'S ALIVE' at the top of his voice, but thought better of it. He'd been working for nine hours straight with no bathroom breaks but he'd done it. He ran over another set of checks just to make sure he'd gotten it right. A proud smile made its way onto his face when all the checks turned out fine.

"Wait here for a moment." He stated to his finished project as he leaned his oily hands with a rag and made his way over towards the lift that lead up towards the living area. As he disappeared, the lift ascending him out of view, the figure sat up, looking at it's body for a moment, before removing the wires from his chest one by one.

Survival was the one thing, after what he'd been forced to do, he would have expected. But it seemed he had been granted another chance to correct his mistakes and earn the forgiveness of his only friend.

* * *

Repairs to Giant Wing had taken long than expected, but a good weak later after its battle with the Egg Carrier 3, all systems had been restored. The President had arrived just in time to see it's take off. As his chopper descended upon the landing pad, the core agents of Freelance Division; Bean, Bark, Rouge and Topaz was waiting for him. The repairing station for Giant wing was a harbour they'd kept separate from civilians under their ship was finally ready for take off. With the current G.U.N headquarters position compromised, Giant Wing was the serve as their new permanent base of operations. This way, they would never have one fixed location and Giant Wing was more than capable of fulfilling the practical requirements of a base that important. All the agents accept for Rouge saluted when the President and Christina, his aid, approached as the blades of the chopper rotated slowly to a stop.

"At ease." He said, raising a hand. "Where's captain Okida? I need to have a word with him." The Eggman Empire's presence on the planets surface had dried up once their forces that penetrated his under sea bases defensive perimeter and demolished the base itself. There hadn't been a sign of him for days now. They had found pieces of his Egg Carrier smouldering in half sunken swamp lands. Presumable someone had done their work for them and dealt with the flying battleship, even if its main bulk hadn't been found yet.

"You called sir?" There was a short flapping in the air and the Captain of Freelance division dropped down out of the sky in front of his team. Since there wasn't a tailor alive who could model a uniform to a mobian, most of Freelance division was allowed to remain in causal dress.

"Where'd they pick up bat boy here?" Rouge asked, leaning over towards Topaz. "Not bad looking." She added, putting a hand to her chin. Topaz managed a large smirk.

"Why Rouge." She began quietly. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you liked him." The female bat rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, I don't mix business with pleasure." Her eyes narrowed seductively. "I have the Echidna on his flying island for that kind of thing."

"Yes." The President began unsteadily. "I'd like to talk to you in private for a moment." Okida nodded, narrowing one flaxen yellow eye's questioningly anyway.

"Of course sir. I have an office down the hall." As the two of them disappeared down a flight of stairs towards the building complex, preparations for the proper launching of Giant Wing were nearly complete. Just a few more checks to ensure that the systems were all working properly and they should be able to launch within the hour. Giant Wing was run by steam power, a revolutionary technology salvaged from the downed Egg Fleet. All the engines required to work were a small contribution of fresh water. The technology was easy to mass produce, pollutant free and practical in major industries. There were already plans to bring it into major use across the world within the next year.

"I'll be frank here Okida." The President began as the Captain shut the door of his small office behind him. "If what you said about a leak is true, then it could present quite a few long term problems I'd rather weren't there."

"Such as?" The bat asked. His office was only a few feet in every direction, a low ceiling and a desk with two filing cabinets. His name engraved on a plate on the outside of the door. The blue prints for a few of the militaries mechanical walkers spread over his desk.

"Well, despite the obvious threat to nation security, if word of this gets out, it won't be long before out right paranoia sets in." Okida nodded in agreement as the President sat himself down in a chair. The last thing they needed was for people to start pointing fingers at each other. Trying to finger the Eggman Empire informant. It would be more like a witch hunt than anything else. "So I'd like to keep this between you and me for the moment."

"And General Saddler." Okida added, raising a finger.

"I've already had a word with him about this matter. But now we have to think of a way of tricking this spy into reveal himself to us, without alarming anyone to his presence." The bat sat down on his desk, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"That won't be easy. If this informant was able to give Eggman the access codes to satellite surveillance, then he's hidden within our own Government deep enough to have knowledge of any kind of sting operation we could set up."

"Then we'll just have to keep quiet for the time being and watch carefully. We'll have to wait for the right opportunity to present itself." The President stood up. "The elections are in a few weeks. It would be the Eggman Empire's best interest to have me voted out of office so the Doctor will probably have his spy try to ruin my chances." Okida managed a smile, wondering if the Presidents concerns during that last statement were true, or he just didn't want to be voted out.

"I'll keep my eyes open sir. And don't worry, we never had this conversation." The President nodded in agreement, before turning towards the door. A loud roaring sound began to echo through the air as the engines of Giant Wing were activated. Bean and Bark turned towards the harbour to watch.

"Alright, the show's starting." Bean said with relish, rubbing his hands together as the giant bronze giant began to slowly lift itself into the air.

"Personally, I don't see what all the fuss is about." Bark stated with a yawn. "Once you've seen one giant flying ship you've seen them all."

"Not a fan of anything metal, are you?" Bean asked back. As the colossal shape ascended, the president watched from a distance with a large smile on his face. Rather than a battleship for defensive purposes, Giant Wing was a more like a symbol of strength for the G.U.N soldiers. A morale boaster, to keep them in high spirits. The war with Dr. Eggman's robotic armies could go on for some time.

War was never popular with the voters and so to keep them happy, this would have to be the symbol of G.U.N strength. Now, finally with its huge form in the air, Giant Wing began to ascend even higher. Once it reached a fixed height it began to hover, coming like a bronze coloured version of Angel Island. The G.U.N banner painted on it's side.

"Not at all bad looking." Vector remarked as he as the rest of Chaotix stared at the giant from the police road block that had been keeping civilians out of the repair area. Already a large crowd had gathered to watch the launching of the greatest vessel humans had ever created. "Got to hand it to those G.U.N people, Espio, they know how to built a mean looking create."

"True." Espio began, standing nearly unobserved in the crowd. "But so does Eggman. Or have you forgotten about that whole Egg Fleet thing, or when I helped them raid the Egg Carrier 3?" The crocodile gave him a long sideways glare.

"You have to nit pick don't you?"

* * *

Sonic looked up as the lift from Tails' lab ascended through the floor with a loud clicking sound. The fox pushed the metal gate opened and walked out, the widest smile anyone could imagine on his face. There was filthy; black smudges all over his gloves and fur. Obviously he'd been working amongst his heavy machinery for some time. Amy was still in the kitchen area, putting Shadow's half the groceries away.

"You look happy." The blue hedgehog said, trying to keep Amy's Hero Chao was buzzing around his head. "Finally fixed that coffee machine of yours?" Shadow had disappeared again, but the others hardly even noticed his absence. Keeping Shadow fixed in one place for any extended period of time longer than a few minutes was completely impossible. It was the same thing with Sonic, who was used to travelling so fast, standing still seemed like a choir.

"Hardly, something a lot more interesting." Tails replied, putting his hands on his hips, spreading the oil further across his fur.

"An arcade game?"

"Nope."

"A new plane?"

"Good idea, but no."

"Some kind of new Chaos Emerald detection device?" Amy asked from the kitchen."

"No."

"A tractor?" Sonic asked

"A what?!" Both Tails and Amy asked simultaneously.

"I'm running out of ideas, toss me a bone here!"

"It's the last thing you'd ever expect." Sonic paused to think of all the things he'd hardly expect Tails to have down in his lab, unfortunately they were all things that Tails would hardly come out and tell them about. A short chuckle escaped him. "Mind out of the gutter please." Tails added, reading Sonic thoughts but looking at the smile on his face.

"Alright, I give. What you been working on?" The smile on Tails face returned.

"Come on down and I'll show you." Sonic and Amy exchanged a worried glance, before the blue hedgehog pushed himself up off the sofa and the two of them followed Tails over to the lift. The fox chuckled once before shutting the gate and throwing the switch, the lift began to descend down the concrete shaft towards the laboratory and workshop. Amy hadn't actually had the privilege of being into Tails' new workspace before. Having only heard about it from Sonic, she was interested to see what the young fox could conceive.

Once they came to the bottom, without even opening the gate, Tails leaned out and shouted.

"Ok, come on out." Sonic and Amy peered out after him for what he was talking to. Most of his workshop had been purposely concealed in darkness. The only light coming from the electric bulb near the entrance to the lift, which flickered occasionally. Suddenly they could hear loud foot steps coming towards them, as a shape, its edges glistening with a metallic hint appeared. As it neared them and Sonic's eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, he could see its familiar shape. A pair of glowing blue eyes and a larger one directly above them, shone out of the gloom.

"Tails…" Amy began, seeing the same thing. "You didn't…."

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Amy Rose

Age: 16

Sex: female

Species: Hedgehog

Job description: A girl with eyes only for Sonic. Although she first came over as an annoying reliability, the blue hedgehog is becoming very found of her.


	24. Episode 12, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X, Etc.)

* * *

Flip Card 2: 

Name: The Foundation Organisation

Age: 60

Job description: A military based company that funded Prof. Gerald's research onboard ARK 50 years ago... That could possibly all be a façade for something more dangerous.

* * *

"There you go." Chuck finally said; turning off the welding torch and pushing the grad up from over his face, Metal Sonic's arm finally repaired. The robotic hedgehog clenched a fist, testing the strength of his fingers for a moment before he looked satisfied. Sliding off the table, he paused to examine his body to make sure all the damage inflicted during the chaotic battle with Shadow's mysterious ghouls was gone. "Try not to get in too many more fights, it's costing me a small fortune in repair work for the Planes as it is." 

"As the Doctor orders." Metal replied. Now that he was up and running again with a clean, 100 power output reading, he could challenge Sonic either to a fight or a race, whichever his organic counterpart felt like. The trap door leading up into Chuck's apartment opened and his grand son pushed his head through.

"Chris, good to see you." Prof. Thorndyke declared as Chris made his way up into the upstairs. "How's high school been?"

"Confusing." The boy replied, rubbing his head. "I could start telling you about it, but quite frankly I'm too tired." He rolled his eyes." Not to mention I saw on the news all I missed." He sat himself down in one of the chairs near the window as Metal Sonic tested the strength of his arms by re-arranging the shape of a long piece of metal on Chuck's work table. Mr. Stuart, a federal agent posing as the Thorndyke's gardener, was just downstairs in the garage, listening to what they'd were saying, recording it all through a concealed bug he'd planted there a few days ago. It was his job to keep the Government informed of all the movements of the Thorndykes, known affiliates of the world renowned hero.

So far, all he'd been able to gather was that Metal Sonic was no longer a major threat, quite the reverse now. While there were a lot of people in Area 99 who wanted him melted down anyway, the much bigger problem of the Eggman Empire took priority, so they were prepared to let this one go. Many people were interested in acquired the technology that made robots like Metal Sonic and Omega think for themselves. Having that king of artificial intelligence could produce a lot of money for a lot of powerful people. Unfittingly for them however, both Metal and Omega were classified as within G.U.N jurisdiction and off limits to big corporations.

"Sonic tells me you have eyes for a girl." Metal put in suddenly, straightening out the metal bar and placing it back, quite satisfied with the strength of his hands. A deep shade of red crept began to glow on the boys cheeks. Chuck turned and pretended to be getting on with some work.

"Well…er…" Chris stuttered, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't make him look like a total idiot.

"What was that name again?" Metal began, looking thoughtful. _"Helen wasn't it?" _A frog formed in Chris' throat. _"You look embarrassed. You shouldn't be. Emotions are a vital part of organic reproduction. It's necessary for your kind to create young." _Metal Sonic's statement made Chris; entire face burn red. _"I say something wrong?" _The robot asked again, suddenly noting the look of intense embarrassment on the boys face.

"No." Chuck began with his back turned. "But next time try not to explain like it a machine."

"That's easy for you to say."

"Young Master, a girl is at the front door. She claims to know you." Stuart had had to quickly look like he was working when Tanaka turned up, putting his head up into the upstairs apartment. "Blonde girl, in a wheel chair."

"Ah, that'll be her." Metal added, eyes red eyes giving Chris a sly side glance. There was something profoundly sadistically enjoyable about watching him blush. Quickly, and with his face still red he quickly vanished after Tanaka. When Chris came to see her at the door, she hair was tied back into a pony tail. A far different hair style than the one he was used to, in some weird way it seemed to bright out the brilliance of her aqua blue eyes. She had a new wheel chair that her parents had bought. It had been created using the new technology stolen from the graveyard of the Egg Fleet. It had cost her parents a lot of money, but it provided Helen far more mobility than her old wheelchair. This new seat hovered above the ground, suspended by a magnetic force.

Along with new military capabilities, the salvage of technology had been incredibly beneficial for medical science. There were even rumours that within two years time, nano-technology might open up all kinds of possibilities for disabled people.

"Nice isn't it?" She asked with a sweet smile as Chris looked it over. The chair was silver in colour and seemed to fit her body almost like a think dress. A pair of thin arm rests out the side, the controls for the chair on the left hand side of each.

"How much did that cost?" Chris just asked.

"My parents wouldn't tell me." She admitted, suddenly looking regretfully. "But I'd image quite a lot. They were the first ones to take it up when it became available." Chris stood aside the girl floated inside.

"Mr. Thorndyke says there is a call from Tails on the line in his workshop." Tanaka said in a passing comment as he disappeared into the kitchen. "He says Tails wishes to speak to you as well." Metal Sonic had been watching from the upstairs with an amused look in his eyes.

"Oh hello Mr. Stuart." Stuart looked up, suddenly seeing Helen and Chris come out of the main house and make their way towards the garage. He quickly put his microphone away in a panicked rush.

"Good to see you again Helen." Their former teacher said, smiling.

"Not traded teaching in for gardening are you?"

"Only part time, I'll be back teaching more young people like yourselves before you know it." Chuck leaned out of the trap door and yelled down to them.

"Chris, hurry up please." He said before disappearing again.

"About time." Sonic said once Chuck's face reappeared with Chris' on the web cam. The blue hedgehog had his arms crossed and his face set in a bored frown. Tails was standing beside him "Hey Chris. I need the two of you to meet us at Vanilla's apartment as soon as you can." Chuck, Helen and Chris shot each other a puzzled glance.

"Why?" They all asked at once.

* * *

Cream had been in her room for some time. She hadn't even come out for breakfast this morning.. Vanilla had never seen her daughter like this before. She was very worried about her. Her friends had tried to call her, but she wasn't interested in talking to them at the moment. Vanilla had been upset that she'd left to go of on an adventure without her permission, but her daughter had just lost her best friend. She could hardly ground her for a year after that. 

Her apartment was located on the waterfront in Station Square, overlooking the bay between the city and the Mystic Ruins. The shattered ruins of the Egg Fleet still rusting in-between. It was small space, but until they could find more a permanent residence this would have to do.

"Hey." Amy announced, poking her head around the already open front door. "Sorry, door was unlocked." Vanilla smiled as the pink hedgehog, surrounded by more of Cream's friends entered.

"I'm glad you're here." She replied. "Cream could certainly use some company right about now. Although it may take some persuasion to make her open the door. At the moment she won't speak to anyone. Not even me."

"Oh I think she will." Sonic added with a wide smirk, stepping side to reveal who was standing behind him. Vanilla's jaw dropped.

Emerl had never betrayed them. He simply couldn't control his actions. She had through such terrible things about him when, after the Chaos Emerald Tournament, the robot had turned on them. She had truly believed that he was one of Eggman's loyal robot soldiers. But, in the end, her best friend after all he'd done, sacrificed himself to save her.

Cream just felt like a part inside of her had died. She sat on her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees. Cheese sat on the end of the bed, his near featureless face set in a sad stare.

"Chao?" He asked quietly, but received no reply.

"Cream." Her mother knocked on the door. Cream didn't move. "Your friends are here to see you. Shouldn't you come out and say hello."

"I don't want to." The she rabbit yelled out through the closed door. "Tell them to go away and leave me alone." There was silence from the other side. Cream could see their shadows coming underneath the door.

"I think you should dear." Before Cream could argue, Vanilla pushed the door open. Standing there beside her were all of her friends. Sonic, Tails, Amy, Chris, Chuck, Helen and Turel, Amy's hero chao, who flew into the room instantly to play with Cheese. Standing there in front of them all was the one person she never through she'd see again.

A metallic figure, with three large blue eyes and black and golden armoured skin. The Eggman Empire's symbol on his chest plate had been removed, with Tails' double tails sign printed on instead.

Her face hung in suspension, staring with an emotionless expression at the robotic figure that stood before her. A tense moment followed and everyone could nearly taste the overwhelming emotion in the air. She slowly pushed herself off the bed and stood before the robot she'd thought was long gone.

Emerl reached out, offering her his hand again. Cream didn't move, she just stood there staring before a think trickle of tears began running down her cheeks. She looked over to all those around her. Sonic smiled and gave her a thumbs up, then she turned back to face Emerl.

In her mind flashed the memories of when she'd first met him, hiding in the bushes on the Thorndyke estate. How they'd become good friends, before Eggman's schemes pried them apart. Her tears intensified, before she, without any hesitation nearly tossed herself at the root, who caught her in his arms.

"Tails, old buddy." Sonic said with a large grin. "You're a miracle worker."

* * *

A large part of Station Square was still being rebuilt following the Metal Overlord's attack. Much of that was in ruins, due to be knocked down and the building started from scratch. Completely sealed of, the area had been abandoned for over two months now. The entangled mess of crumbling buildings and empty streets provided Shadow with an absolutely perfect training grounds. 

Sliding in and out of the concealed pathways, Shadow found that this pushed his agility to it's limits, especially if he tried to travel at a comfortable speed. The black and red hedgehog had no specific reason to train his body. He had to enemies to fight and quite to be honest, he would prefer if he didn't have to fight at all. What kept him at it was the thought of beating Sonic at something. Like Metal Sonic, Shadow enjoyed a healthy rivalry with the Blue hedgehog. It gave both their existence's a little purpose.

About some time ago, when he'd skated out onto an empty high street, the only thing littering the streets apart from rubble and overturned cars being a thin lay of brick dust, it began to softly snow. Slowly at first, but as the minutes wore on, Shadow found himself caught in a thick fall. He slid to a stop beside an abandoned apartment building, even his eyes enhanced eyes couldn't see through it. The sun had already gone down, so there was no hope of using it's position to estimate in which direction he was facing.

His ear twitched when he heard a faint sound coming from somewhere behind him. He shot back to look, but of course through the falling snow he could see nothing. He waited just in chase it happened again, the howls of the wind nearly preventing him from hearing anything, but eventually that sound came again.

Any other person would have passed it off as a cat or domesticated animal, but Shadow knew full fell it was the sound of someone putting a foot down as softly at they could on the snow. Someone was following him.

He paused for a moment just to make sure, listening carefully, being careful not to make a single sound. As he waited, more sounds drifted over. One very distinct one being the sound of a gun being loaded.

As soon as he heard that, he was gone, sliding over the shoe with artistic ease, skating between the ruined buildings. He paused every now and then to listen, doing this to see exactly how good they were at following him. He could tell they were by no means as fast as he was, but they were doing a very good job of keeping up. This was amateur hunter that was for certain.

Shadow decided to see exactly how good this guy really was and vanished in a Chaos Control warp, reappearing on the top of a large storage warehouse, leaping from roof top to roof top, before sliding down a collapsed wall into a back alley. From his hiding place, Shadow listened. Like he'd expected, whoever was following him was still on his tail. No amateur that was certain now. This was a professional.

The chase with whoever was following him went on for another ten minutes before the black and red Hedgehog decided that it was time to show them exactly who they were dealing with. Intending to play on that overused saying, the hunter becomes the hunted, he shot around at a u-turn, zooming in at super speed towards the sounds point of origin. It was about then he discovered his fatal flaw.

He had been too arrogant about his own abilities, underestimating his quarry. His pursuer had been directing Shadow by purposely making noises to make him go in different directions, herding the black and red hedgehog into a dead end. He frowned, realizing his own amateurish mistake.

Sounding around, he came face to face with his pursuer, who was crouching on a support beam overhanging the alleyway. He was a mobian weasel, with bright purple fur. A leather hat on his head and a belt wrapped around his waist. His tail took an entire ninety degree turn directly in the middle. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of goggles, the eyes a bright green. Infra-red scopes. So that was how he knew were Shadow was all the time. Apart from himself, the black and red Hedgehog was the only source of heat in this part of the city.

"Hey nothing personal pal." The weasel said, raising a rifle, peering through it's lens. "I'm just doing a job." Without a single second of hesitation he fired. Shadow easily dodged the projectile, but discovered too late that the weasel hadn't been aiming for him. The bullet fired contained a powerful sleeping gas that was released on impact, coating the air in a thick green smoke. Shadow gasped for air, his strength leaving him before his eyes grew heavy and he collapsed to the floor, asleep. The weasel had already attached a specialised gas mask to his face so when he jumped down to inspect his work, he remained unaffected. He gave Shadow's body a kick with his boot and then leaned down to check he was still alive. Noting the healthy plus, he stood up again.

"This is Sniper to HQ. Mission accomplished. Target immobilised. Ready for e-vac." He said, putting two fingers to the side of his goggles, speaking into a concealed microphone. Almost immediately the sound of chopper blades began to fill the air. A search light lanced down from the sky a moment later, striking the weasel and the unconscious hedgehog. Swiftly, ropes carrying several men in swat uniform descended from above, quickly taking hold of Shadow limp body. Fang reached up, grasping the out reaching hand on one of them and was hoisted up as well.

"Target secure. Move out." One of the soldiers yelled over towards the pilots and the chopper quickly began to disappeared into the snow storm.

"You do good work Mr. Sniper." Arthur Falcon the Third, current head of Foundation operations stated through the video link as the weasel seated himself down, removing his gas mask and goggles, showing that his eyes had changed colour to an unnatural green. "I knew I could count on you."

"Just doing my job sir." The weasel replied with a wide smirk. "We'll have him back at headquarters within minutes. I'll personally be delivering him."

* * *

Are you prepared to go on the journey?  
Just one more morning to come,  
Put on a new shirt and,  
Sneak out into the night,

Today, the city won't sleep either,  
It will just watch quietly,  
What you and I will start!

To be shine, to be free,  
Do not be bewildered,  
The waves of time are strong but gentle,  
Very soon, very soon, I'm going out to meet you,  
Together, our world will shine,

To be shine, to be free,  
Don't be frightened,  
The waves of time are strong but gentle,

We'll meet in that far and distant city,  
Very soon, very soon, I'm going out to meet you,  
Let's go and find our future.

* * *

(In Chris' Voice) 

Emerl is back and for good this time. But what about Shadow? Where did Fang take him and why? Find out next time as the Foundation Saga begins. Episode 13: Laying of a Foundation. Don't miss it!

(End of Saga notes.

Just began this long saga is over, doesn't mean that I'm stopping. Oh no. I intend to do at least twenty six whole episodes to make up an entire new season of Sonic X. I still have three saga's in mind to make the story from here on in very interesting. Tell me what you think of this finished Saga. Enjoy the appearance of Bean and Bark? I had intended this to be a Sonic the Fighter's Saga, but I though having the Death Egg 2 around was too star wars like. I put the new black Emerl in from Sonic Advance 3 since I saw a screen shot where he and Cream becoming friends. R&R!!)


	25. Episode 13, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO. LET'S GO!

(Previous on Sonic X)

"Hey nothing personal pal." The weasel said, raising a rifle, peering through it's lens. "I'm just doing a job." Without a single seconds hesitation he fired. Shadow easily dodged the projectile, but discovered too late that the weasel hadn't been aiming for him. The bullet fired contained a powerful sleeping gas that was released on impact, coating the air in a thick green smoke. Shadow gasped for air, his strength leaving him before his eyes grew heavy and he collapsed to the floor, asleep. The weasel had already attached a specialised gas mask to his face so when he jumped down to inspect his work, he remained unaffected. He gave Shadow's body a kick with his boot and then leaned down to check he was still alive. Noting the healthy pulse, he stood up again.

"This is Sniper to HQ. Mission accomplished. Target immobilised. Ready for e-vac." He said, putting two fingers to the side of his goggles, speaking into a concealed microphone. Almost immediately the sound of chopper blades began to fill the air. A search light lanced down from the sky a moment later, striking the weasel and the unconscious hedgehog. Swiftly, ropes carrying several men in swat uniform descended from above, quickly taking hold of Shadow limp body. Fang reached up, grasping the out reaching hand on one of them and was hoisted up as well.

"Target secure. Move out." One of the soldiers yelled over towards the pilots and the chopper quickly began to disappeared into the snow storm.

"You do good work Mr. Sniper." Arthur Falcon the Third, current head of Foundation operations stated through the video link as the weasel seated himself down, removing his gas mask and goggles, showing that his eyes had changed colour to an unnatural green. "I knew I could count on you."

"Just doing my job sir." The weasel replied with a wide smirk. "We'll have him back at headquarters within minutes. I'll personally be delivering him."

The Foundation Saga

Episode 13: The Laying of a Foundation.

* * *

The commercial Christmas season had officially begun, with toy commercials broadcast twenty four hours a day, thick snow falling from the sky and the streets of Station Square being strewn with multicoloured lights. It was still only late November, but no body, especially the big stores, seemed to care.

Sonic however was far too busy to be bothered with it all right now. Shadow had been missing for over two days now. Normally, Sonic would not worry. Shadow had been known to vanish for longer periods than that, it was just that he had seemed very anxious to get going with his own investigations. For him to vanish for this long didn't make any sense.

Metal Sonic and Tails had joined in the search with him. The robotic hedgehog was flying over the desert outside the city, trying to spot the black hedgehog from the air. Tails was asking around town if anyone had seen Shadow. Sonic was just doing what he did best. Running through the streets, keeping an eye open for anything that looked remotely like the Ultimate life form.

"Where the hell is he?" He asked himself, scratching the back of his head as he stood on the top of a tall building overlooking the main street into Station Square's shopping district. Amy was probably down there taking advantage of the early deals they had going on right now. He thought he'd spotted her a minute ago coming out of a department store, but it was only Chaotix. It seems Vector wanted to get as much of his shopping down now to avoid the big Christmas rush. There was a loud thumping sound and Sonic's robotic counter part landed next to him. "Any luck?" He asked. The robot hedgehog shook his head.

"Not a black and red Hedgehog for miles." Metal replied shaking his head. Sonic groaned, folding his arms. _"Where do you think he's gone?"_

"No idea." He replied, tapping his foot impatiently. "But If I find out he's just out checking out the Christmas deals, I'll kill him." They both looked up as it began to snow again. The sky quickly becoming completely blanketed by white petals. Even Sonic felt the chill in the air, which for him was unusual. He was supposed to be used this sort of thing. He'd been to far colder places with nothing on but his gloves and shoes. Metal Sonic read the air temperature. It was one degree colder than it was this morning. It was going to be a very cold winter that was for certain. They carried on together systematically searching the streets and as usual they met with failure.

"He can't have gone far." Metal Sonic stated as Sonic slid to a stop, the slippery surface nearly making him tip over the edge of a roof top. Sonic hated his kind of weather. It made running very difficult as his sneakers couldn't get a good grip, he was more of a summer person. _"I've already scouted the desert, and it's doubtful he would have gone further than that."_

"Hey Sonic." The blue hedgehog looked down over the side of the building to see a pair of orange tails, spinning around like the blade on a chopper, coming flying up.

"S'up Tails." He replied, altering his frown into a grin. "Any luck, did you find him?" The fox shrugged as he landed next to him, handing over a ring.

"Sort of." Sonic looked the ring over and recognised it at once. It was a black and gold wrist band with a red patch at the front. Shadow wore one of each around his wrist. "I found it half buried in the snow over by the abandoned side of town. The falling snow had nearly covered all the tracks, but by the looks of it, Shadow was being chased by something." The three of them stood there in silence for a moment before Sonic clenched a wrist around the wrist band. "I think he's been kidnapped." Sonic paused, his expression nearly unreadable before it melted and he shrugged.

"Then I guess we'll just have to rescue him, goodness knows what that'll do to his ego though." Tails and Metal Sonic gave the blue hedgehog a long stare.

"Look who's talking." They said together.

* * *

His great battleship, the Egg Carrier 3 damaged nearly beyond repair, Eggman had been forced to lay low. Hidden deep within the thick rainforests of south America, the giant battleship, it's many scars still apparent lay stern underneath covering of false canopy. Eggman simply refused to retreat back to Final Egg. His pride would not permit it.

He had lost his great miniature Eclipse cannon, Emerl, and three Chaos emeralds. To say that he was upset, would be putting it lightly. He was in a white hot rage, punching anything that came within several feet of him. Decoe and Before wisely kept outside of that radius.

"Wait until I get this ship up and running again." The would be dictator snarled, flaming another fist into the punching bag. "Then I'll show them who's in charge!" None of his robots did a thing to try and calm him down. In fact, taking his frustrations out on something might actually give him some badly needed exercise. One last punch and Eggman paused to catch his breath. Feeling a little better, he reached for his jacket that he'd left on the table next to him. Emerl's attempt at stopping him would not prevent his conquest of the world. The Eggman Empire would spread to control the entire planet, it was inevitable. "Report." He added sharply, hardly turning his head to acknowledge Decoe's presence as the robot cowered in the doorway.

"Weapons and propulsion are down. It'll take another two months to get them operations again after the beating we took." Suddenly Eggman felt like hitting something again. "Luckily are defences are still one hundred percent operational, so we can repeal any attack if we're discovered." The doctor hadn't been listening to that last part. He was still replaying the last few moments he had to enjoy the raw power of his cannon, before that traitorous machine Emerl self detonated inside it, blowing it and half his ship into oblivion.

Standing inside the core of the cannon, Emerl could see the giant needle gathering energy and preparing to fire. Purple bolts of lighting dancing from the needle to the outside wall and back again. All so Dr. Eggman could control him. He would not allow that. He was free now, and he was going to make sure that his freedom did not come at the cost of his friend's life. With three Chaos emeralds inside him, the blast he could create would be more than enough to end this. Turning inwards, his began the countdown, setting it at a delay of ten seconds.

During that time, he marched down the service catwalk towards the very heart of Eggman's weapon. He knew that the Doctor would not be able to produce another of this weapon when it was destroyed. The technology was far too complex to duplicate more than once. And for some reason, that thought made him feel satisfied. He could feel it coming on now, the energy gathering inside his body, reaching critical levels. His metal frame couldn't contain it anymore and parts of it began to break off, large streams of light lancing out of the wounds. His entire body glowing a bright red that was steadily increasing.

Only several seconds left. Emerl looked back one last time towards the X-Tornado in the distance that carried his friend. One second left, he crossed his arms and then shot a contempt full glare upwards the cannon, his body burning with white hot uncontrollable chaos energy. And then, it happened.

Cream looked back from the X-tornado to see the front of the Egg Carrier explode in a fire storm. Both doors that covered the cannon was blow completely off by the blast, the giant metal pieces falling to the ground in flames. Thousands of robots that formed the crew of the ship were thrown out from the giant wound, falling like metal rain.

The entire ship shook violently. As the back feed through the cannon systems destroyed most of the weapons interior, the shock wave from the explosion reached the plane, learning making Tails loose control of it. The three Chaos Emeralds, now free from Emerl's body, were flung through the air, hurtling like asteroids through the atmosphere. All heading in an opposite direction from each other, disappearing on the horizon with a loud sonic boom.

As the chain reaction shot back through the Egg Carrier, one of it's wings that was tucked at it's side was thrown clear off, landing on the ground with a deafeningly loud thud on the swamp ground below, sinking nearly completely. It's balance upset, the Egg Carrier seemed to lurch to one side, looking like it was going to tip over and crash into the ground at any point.

Eggman was going to make sure nothing like that every happened again. Next time he was going to take more precautions, to ensure that no one, NO ONE, would so much as dent the surface of his artists masterpieces.

* * *

Shadow groaned and pushed his eyes open, finding it a chore. His vision blurred and it took a moment to adjust to the light. Shaking his head, his sight clarified and he was met with an unfamiliar face. It was human, with the eyes hidden behind a pair of thick black sunglass. The skin was a strange white with raven black hair set in a middle parting. Whoever he was, he was dressed with a very business like suit with a red tie and white shirt.

His memories flashed before him and suddenly Shadow remembered what had happened to him before he passed out. Frantically he tired to move, but found that his arms and legs were bound by metal restraints. Try as he might, he couldn't pry himself free. Chaos Control failed as well, something in this new environment was keeping him from accessing any sort of Chaos energy required for teleportation.

The human smiled as he watched Shadow squirm. The black hedgehog was now aware he was in some kind of large chamber, lit by braziers on the walls. Everything around him looked very Egyptian. The style of the walls and the six pillars that held up the huge, flat room. The walls were even lined with hieroglyphics and murals. Shadow then discovered that he and the human in front of him were on a large pyramid like structure directly in the middle of the chamber. All around them was a large crowd of people, there had to be at least two hundred of them, not counting those Shadow couldn't see towards the back. A dim glow of conversation filled the air. They all gathering in what looked like a very old finished looking market with makeshift stalls and roads.

Then Shadow noticed the ceiling and the symbol drawn directly above him on it. A Japanese Dragon, the old symbol of the Foundation.

"You may not understand now…" The human began, his accent was English. "But what happens to you now is not death, but rather completion of your destiny."

"I've just about had it with all that destiny crap!" Shadow snapped, a great deal of spittle hitting the human on the cheek. "Just who are you?" The human paused, reached into his breast pocket and took out a handkerchief. He wiped his cheek before speaking.

"At the moment I am Arthur Falcon the Third." Shadow paused.

"What do you mean, at the moment?" A thin, sadistic smiled crossed Arthur's face. It was the kind of smile that unnerved even Shadow.

"In the years gone by, I was know was Falcon the first and second. During the past few hundred years, I had to keep changing my name to ensure my place in society was not disturbed." Shadow stared at him with wide eyes, before narrowing them.

"Bull shit. No one apart from me can live that long."

"I'm afraid you're quite mistaken. You seen, I was born during the French revolution, to an aristocratic family. I would have died then and there during my infanthood at the hands of revolutionaries, had it not be for the divine mercy of my master." Shadow barred his teeth, still trying to free his arms. Even with his returning strength, the metal straps that encased his arms refused to budge. They were even blocking a Chaos Spear.

"Look pal, I don't know what psychiatric ward you escaped from, but just let me go before I hurt you."

"Oh don't worry. I shall let you go." Arthur turned to face the crowd at the base of the pyramid. "Right after the ceremony." Before Shadow could reply, the human began bellowing at the crowd in a deafening voice. "The time is now children of Krish. The vessel we create fifty years ago for our master, is once again in our hands!" The crowd cheered, some wielding touches in the air. Shadow blinked, trying to wake up from his bad dream. It was like he'd stepped into some low budget horror flick. "Within the hour, the time will be right and we shall have the honour of walking amongst the divine one." The cheers from the crowd intensified as Arthur turned back to face his captive. "Sorry for the interruption, had to keep them happy for the time being."

"Having me strapped to some bondage table makes them happy?" Shadow asked with wide eyes. "What have I ever done to you?" Arthur put his hands to his chin.

"It's not really what you've done. More like what your creator failed to do."

"What?" The human paused to look at his wrist watch.

"Well we do have time for a chat, so I suppose I can answer any questions you have before we have to begin.

You see, fifty years ago, genetic engineering reached the level I required to create a new body for my master to use. That had been his order to me for the last one hundred and fifty years. It was why I created the Foundation Organisation to begin with. It was to serve that one purpose.

The greatest biologist of the time was…"

"…Prof. Gerald Robotnik." Shadow said, completing the sentence for him in something of a daze. Arthur nodded.

"Yes, even today his work is unsurpassed. I mean, just look at you."

"Sir." The human looked back over his shoulder to see a purple weasel standing behind him to attention, his arm raised in salute. Shadow remembered now, this was the weasel who'd knocked him out. The mobians face the last thing he remembered before blacking out and waking up here.

"Ah Mr. Sniper. You've met Shadow I believe, wonderfully dependable chap. He wouldn't work for free of course, but I a quick trip inside his mind solved that problem." Arthur patted the weasel on the head. Fang didn't respond at all. He stood as still as a statue. "Well what is, I'm trying to have a discussion." Fang cleared his throat.

"We've had Government inspectors asking for permission to review our files. They may be onto us." Shadow knew were that was coming from. That was the end result of Chuck's attempts to persuade the Government to ask the Foundation Organisation some questions. Arthur simply shrugged, raising his eyebrows.

"Let them. In a hour, we won't have to bother with their interference. Now, if you don't mind, you're dismissed." Fang bowed and disappeared down the side of the pyramid. "Now where was I? Oh yes… Prof. Gerald, at the time, was based on the Space Colony ARK. A perfect isolated environment so his experiments would not be discovered. Secrecy, both on our part and on that of the Government, was essential. We expected him to be compliant, we did not foresee however…

"That he would have a conscience, that he would value his granddaughters life above the whims of any Earth bound power." Shadow added, snapping. Arthur stared him down.

"Putting it rather bluntly, but yes. Gerald was more interested in one insignificant life. Project Shadow was not going the way it was supposed to. So we cooked up some false reports to justify an invasion." Shadow stared him, his eyes wide, before they narrowed. Intense hate burning into them. Unequalled rage set into his features like stone.

"It…was…you!" He said, barley able to form words over his anger. "You're the reason Maria was killed. It was you and your organisations fault!" Arthur chuckled deep in his throat.

"The death of that girl was not our intention, she shouldn't have gotten in the way." Shadow tried to lunge forward, his metal holding his arms down groaning in protest.

"I'll kill you for this!"

"No Shadow, you won't. You're going to stay there for another hour until the ceremony is over, then I will let you down and you will lead our loyal servants in battle.

"I would never join you!"

"Did I say you had a choice, no I did not." There was a sudden flash in the air and instantly, three ghoulish cloaked figures seemed to appear out of nowhere beside them. Their faces hidden underneath their hoods. These were more of those ghost like people the Foundation had been using to hunt him down. "These men did not want to join us either. But the touch of our master can be rather…persuasive."

"You turned them into slaves."

"Devine slaves, and it was not me, it was my master."

"Just who is this…master?" Arthur said nothing. Instead, he turned to face the crowd again. Quietly he spread his arms out wide and began speaking again.

"Blessed are the Children of Krish, for he brings us purpose and meaning. He brings us death where there is omnipotent life, to ensure we do not stagnate like a pool of water. Speak out his name in worship and receive his divine blessing!" The crowd began chanting. At first Shadow wasn't able to make it out, but as the roar intensified, the words were unmistakably familiar.

"KRISH KRA PAL, KRISH KRA PAL, KRISH KRA PAL!"

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Mr. Arthur Falcon

Species: human (apparently.)

Age: Appears 25, but is far, far older in actuality.

Job description: Current operating head of the Foundation Organisation. His real purpose however, is far more sinister.


	26. Episode 13, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X, etc. Another short chap, sorry)

* * *

Flip Card 2: 

Name: Krish Kra Pal

Age: Thousands of years

Sex: (Do gods have any?)

Job description: A dark entity, worshipped by the Ancient Echidna's and the cultists of the Foundation.

* * *

Sonic had cut the middle man right out. Instead of wasting time, he was going straight for the source. The Foundation's main building was a tall sky scrapper in the middle of the city. Shadow's own suspicions held securely in his mind, the blue hedgehog raced down the empty high street towards the towering building in the distance. All Chuck had to do was point him in the right direction and Sonic went flying. 

All his instincts told him Shadow was somewhere in that building and if he was, nothing, not even those ghoulish things were going to stop him from rescuing his friend. So intent, Sonic didn't notice that he was being followed by the repaired X tornado. Tails, Chris and Amy had been closely following him since he left the Thorndyke estate.

"You don't really think these people are holding Shadow against his will are do you?" Chris asked, looking over Tails' shoulder towards the blurred blue line racing down below. Another was flying alongside, Metal Sonic had chosen to fly alongside them rather than compete with Sonic in speed. Metal was still hated and feared by nearly every one who saw him. Flying along the streets, even in the dead of night, was not a smart thing to do.

"I don't know for sure." Tails replied as the X tornado sourced closer to the roof tops. "But Sonic seems to think so, and his words good enough for me."

* * *

"The Ancient Echidna's god." Shadow muttered, finally realization coming to his eyes. "Now I get what this all about. I should have recognised that ridiculous fanatical devotion when I first saw it. The Ancient Echidna's were foolish enough to follow that false deity and it cost them their lives. You'll meet the same fate." 

"Krish is hardly false." Arthur said without turning his back to look at him. "I know that far better than anyone and so should you, you've already met him after all." Shadow narrowed an eye questioningly. "Don't you remember, when you took that little joy ride into Mobius' ancient past, my master greeted you before one of his shrines? He tried to embrace you then and there, but you rejected him." The memory quickly flashed in Shadow's mind, He remembered that quite clearly, but had never spoken of it to anyone.

****

"Embrace me Shadow." The presence demanded this time, looming over him, like it was extending a pair of hands around him, preparing to snatch him up in it's grasp. **"I am your destiny."** Shadow felt sick to his stomach, the words spoken were empty and hollow, doing little to disguise their speakers true nature. Shadow could, see, right through them to this monstrosity. It was what he saw that made him so sick. A mind so full of darkness and emptiness that for a moment he began to doubt his own perceptions of the world. It was trying to force it's way from the outside and directly in to him, and it's presence around him was literally pushing him out. It was trying to replaced his mind with it's.

An image of his old friend, the girl with sea blue eyes and blonde hair flashed before the black hedgehog's eyes and whatever striking hold this thing had over him evaporated.

"I don't care who you are, or what you claim, or what you've done or are going to do." He crossed his arms in front of his chest. The insides beginning to burn with chaos energy. "I am not your property. I make my own destiny!" He closed his eyes and turned inward, tapping into his own power, the residual energy of the chaos emeralds their power had left in him. "CHAOS CONTROL!" He screamed, throwing his arms out and instantly his body was engulfed by a white ball of the purest light, forcing the threatening presence away from him.

"NO!!!!" The voice shrieked, trying desperately to snatch as him, but found itself being pushed further and further away.

* * *

"How could you possibly know about…" Before he could finished his sentence, Arthur turned around and took off his sunglasses, staring directly at his captive. His eyes were glowing completely green, emitting a faint white mist. Shadow lay there, mouth hung open in horror.

"I believe I forgot to tell you exactly how my master saved me as an infant. Krish required a host body to inhabit so his presence could remain here. He chose me. I've been serving as his connection to Earth for over two hundred years. His presence has kept me alive, prolonging my existence far beyond that of any normal man." Shadow's mind was stunned into paralysis. "But that arrangement will soon be over, when he you finish your purpose and serve as his new body."

"And…"Shadow began slowly. "What will happen to you after that?" Arthur replaced his glasses and shrugged.

"Whatever he wants of course. But with my centuries of loyal service, I'll be going places in the new order the master will bring to the world." He checked his watch. "Only another ten minutes to go before my master has enough strength to attempt a crossing. I should go change. It wouldn't do attend the greatest moment in our master's history looking any old how." Lowering his head respectfully, he turned and disappeared down the side of the pyramid accompanied by two of his ghouls. Shadow shook his head, gritting his teeth

This was getting way too weird. It was best if he got out of here now. Preferably, before this sick ceremony of their's. He looked around, trying to see what he had to work with. The straps holding his arms and legs to the table were strong enough to withstand any brute force, so that option was out. They were also suppressing his ability to use Chaos Control and Chaos Spear. It seems they'd done their homework when designing this thing. He found that he had some room to move his hands inside their restraints and that was all he had at the moment, so he'd have to make do with that small comfort. Feeling along the inside, he found was he was looking for, a thin line that showed how the restraints opened.

No amount of strength was going to help him push them open, so he found have to do this the smart way. He paused to make sure the two remaining ghouls at his side didn't notice what he was trying to do. Neither of them were looking in his direction. He only had ten minutes before their strange ritual began, so there was little time to get this right. While not able to use Chaos Control, he could manage short bursts of Chaos energy, so short that they passed in a millisecond, but he wagered they might do murder to his restraints. He began, slowly weakening the metal as the ten minutes slipped away. The crowd around the underground pyramid began to grow more excited, their voices mixed in conversation beginning to increase in volume. Shadow quickened his pace and then, the metal snapped with a loud bang that echoed through the underground cavern. The two ghouls finally noticed, but by then it was too late. Shadow flew forward, arms outstretched, finally free. Now outside the metal, he found that his abilities had returned as well.

Which he was more than happy to show the several dozen ghouls that came flying at him. Chaos Spear attacks flew through the air and the very chamber seemed to vibrate. People started screaming, running for the exists as quickly as they could as Shadow dropped down to the ground. Fang who was in the crowd, saw Shadow trying to make a break for it as rushed after him, a gun at his side.

"Oh no you don't!" He snarled, firing a shot. Shadow doubled back, avoiding the bullet by a inch. His eyes hot around, locking onto the weasel, before his body disappeared in a green haze. Fang blinked in surprise. "What, where'd he go?" Fang soon got his answer as the black and red hedgehog reappeared behind him, flooring the weasel with a sharp kick.

Evidentially he was still in danger as long as he lingered. He paused, waiting until he had enough power for a Chaos Control straight back to Tails' workshop. Before he could however, someone seized his arms from behind and spun him around to face them. It was Arthur, now in a robe Shadow had seen the priests of the Echidna cathedral wear. A pair of bronze bracers strapped to his wrists. His eyes blazing bright green, beyond them the black hedgehog stared into a horrific world full of terror and destruction, a world of burning hatred and intense frustration.

"No more games!" He snarled, but his voice was different. Echoing several times as it spoke. **"You got away from me once, it shall not happen again. Submit!" **Shadow tried to struggle, but surprisingly the humans strength surpassed his own. He could do nothing but watched the glow from his eyes intensified, before leaping across the gap between them and sinking into his head. He screamed.

There was a bright flare of light and Arthur was thrown backwards, slamming into the side of a wall. Shadow stayed stationary, gently swaying. Flames, glowing emerald green suddenly began encircling the black hedgehog, the hat driving those who stayed to watch away. Shadow's eyes snapped open, glowing bright green. A cruel smile crossed his face. Fang rubbed the back of his head and looked up, the green glow suddenly gone from his eyes, restored to their natural colour.

"What?" he began, looking around the now unfamiliar surroundings. "Where am I?" The last thing the weasel remembered was fighting with those Chaotix idiots, before…He shook his head, he couldn't remember anything after that, it was all a blur.

"Master?" Arthur asked, slowly picking himself up, staring at the hedgehog, wrapped in green fire. The humans eyes had gone back to normal, showing their natural colour was a raven black. Slowly Shadow turned to face him, both eyes eclipsed by emerald fire. His smile widened, sadistic hate plain on his face as he spread out his arms and the fire exploded, bathing everything around them in the purest light. Arthur screamed, holding his arms out in front of himself as the fire collided with his body and he disappeared in a white haze.

"Oh crap!" Fang cursed, picking himself up in and instant. Turning, he ran as fast as he could, keeping just out of range of the deadly fire as it scorched everything in it's path.

* * *

Sonic slid to a halt directly outside the entrance to the sky scrappers parking lot. He was certain he'd heard Shadow scream a minute ago. It was after hours and the entire building was black, with the exception of a few windows at the very top. The security guard at the entrance was asleep. Without warning the ground beneath his feet started shaking. The windows on the buildings around him shattered, showering the streets in a rain of glass. Cars jumped into the air before smashing into the ground as their tyres burst, their alarms blaring. In the buildings around them, lights began turning on as people awoke, disturbed by the noise 

"What the hell?" Sonic asked, dodging the glass as it shattered against the road. A beam of green light rocketed up from underneath the ground, lancing into the sky directly up through the building, tearing huge slabs of brick and metal along with it. The noise woke the security guard up. Sonic raced in, gabbed him and flew down the street as the entire skyscraper began to collapse, a thick cloud of dust forming like a thick mist around the streets. The X Tornado wasn't able to even et close, visibility inside the cloud was near impossible, Tails had to pull away at the last minute and circle around in the air.

The beam dissipated and everything grew silent as the crumbling building settled into thick pile of ruins. Sonic looked out from behind a truck as a figure shot out from the ground, engulfed in green flames. "Shadow?" The blue breathed as the black and red hedgehog, glowing bright green, landing on the roof of the truck. His face set in sadistic sneer, both eyes eclipse by a green glow. It was like the ultimate life form was alight with phosphorous flames.

"Eight thousand years has been far too long." He laughed, before his head rolled back and a roar of laughter filled the night sky. Sonic leapt up onto the roof of the truck, confronting Shadow. He could tell instantly that whoever this impostor was, it was not his friend.

"Ok pal. Who are you, and what have you done to Shadow?" The possessed black hedgehog laughed again, two orbs of white light beginning to burn between his fingers. Sonic yelped and somersaulted backwards as a beam of white hot energy jumped from his hand, colliding with road, carving a jagged line down the middle of street, water from the sewers lancing upwards in three thick geysers. Sonic looked back at the destruction. Whoever was controlling Shadow's body had given him near unrivalled power.

"For eons I have been held back, But now the vessel is mine." The black hedgehog clenched a fist and a second later the truck he was standing on detonated, a fire storm exploding into the air. Sonic was thrown by the force across the street, colliding into a street lamp. **"I have no more need for worshippers or deception anymore. Watch, as I make this entire planet BURN!"**

To be continued…

* * *

(In Chris' voice.)

Things have gone from bad to worse. Shadow's not in control anymore, some dark god bent on world domination is! How is Sonic supposed to bet him, without hurting Shadow in the process? Find out next time on Sonic X, The desperate plan. Don't miss it!


	27. Episode 14, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X, etc)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

Last time on Sonic X:

"Ok pal. Who are you, and what have you done to Shadow?" The possessed black hedgehog laughed again, two orbs of white light beginning to burn between his fingers. Sonic yelped and somersaulted backwards as a beam of white hot energy jumped from his hand, colliding with road, carving a jagged line down the middle of street, water from the sewers lancing upwards in three thick geysers. Sonic looked back at the destruction. Whoever was controlling Shadow's body had given him near unrivalled power.

"For eons I have been held back, But now the vessel is mine." The black hedgehog clenched a fist and a second later the truck he was standing on detonated, a fire storm exploding into the air. Sonic was thrown by the force across the street, colliding into a street lamp. **"I have no need for worshippers or deception anymore. Watch, as I make this entire planet BURN!"**

**

* * *

**

Episode 14: The desperate plan

The green flames were everywhere, burning with intense heat the likes of which Sonic had never felt before. He couldn't even get close to Shadow. All the time the darkness that had the black hedgehog's body under it's control was laughing insanely. The snow around them didn't melt, it evaporated straight from it's solid state. The light from the moon and stars above died out, replaced by the brilliance of the flames that seemed to blaze with the brilliance of a second sun. The black hedgehog stood amongst the fire, watching in amusement at Sonic's vain attempts to stop him. The fire was spreading outwards, scorching anything it touched.

"Ok, that's it." The blue hedgehog declared, sliding backwards a few feet as the scorching heat intensified. "I'm giving you to the count of three to let Shadow…" he never even got to finish the sentence. The black hedgehog, still clad in fire, raised his let hand and fired another beam straight at him. Caught in it again, Sonic was sent flying down the high street at a speed that daunted even him. Only muffled cried escaped him as he impacted the side of a building, flying straight through one side and out the other. Sonic had been thrown through an entire building before, and that time it was hardly a picnic, this time it felt like every bone in his body had been broken. Lying in a pile of collapsed rubble, half covered with snow, the blue hedgehog paused to think that perhaps a desperate change in strategy was called for. "Ok, that could have gone better." He groaned, painfully pushing himself up to a sitting position, shaking the dirt and snow out of his quills.

"Idiot." A voice from above stated. Sonic looked up to see the possessed hedgehog standing on the roof top, looking down at him with his arms crossed. **"You've no hope of defeating me. Even less of rescuing your friend."**

"I've faced worse odds." Sonic replied, on his feet in in instant, ignoring nagging pain coming from his legs and back. The black hedgehog laughed as Sonic shot up the wall towards him. Sonic's attempt was thrown away with the slightest gesture of Shadow's hand, sending the blue hedgehog flying through the air.

Before he hit the ground, Metal Sonic came souring in, catching him in his talons. "Thanks Metal." Sonic added as the robotic hedgehog lowered them to the ground. Metal looked off in Shadow's directly, who by now was only a black dot in the midst of a sea of green.

"Looks like Shadow got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Sonic shook his head.

"I don't know who that is, but it isn't Shadow."

"How observant of you." Shadow remarked, leaping the distance between them, landing directly in front of the two. **""No, I'm not Shadow. I am so much more. I am Krish Kra Pal." **Sonic blinked in surprise, recognising the name.

"The ancient Echidna's god?"

* * *

"Hey Chris." Rouge waved over, but suddenly noticed the boy's agitated look. His hands pressed against the back of the door, his breath sharp and shallow, showing he'd been running as fast as he could. "What's wrong?" Chris looked up quickly

"We have to leave, now!" He nearly shouted. Everyone, even Metal Sonic was looking at him strangely.

"Calm down Chris." Chuck began, but the boy managed to butt in quickly to finish what he'd started.

"They know we lied, Mishoal is out looking for us. There's a bounty on our heads." That forced a solemn silence on all of them.

"Are you sure?" Chuck asked. Chris nodded several times very quickly.

"Yes, and they want you most of all Shadow." The black hedgehog blinked in confusion.

"What? Why me?" He asked. Chris paused for a moment to catch his breath.

"Don't know. I didn't hang around long enough to find out." He hesitated again, remembering something important. "Oh yeah, and I found the second time ring." Everyone was instantly by his side, looking up at him with anticipation in their eyes, all of them blurting out questions like where, when and how to get to it. Chris managed to get enough information from their questions to answer. That he'd found it beneath one of those ugly statues. The Echidna's of this time had mistaken it for an alter and had offerings were often being placed upon it.

* * *

"From the time of Ancient Egypt, I have been little more than a phantom, doomed to wander unseen." Krish laughed, looking down at his out reached hands, having missed the feeling of living flesh. **"Oh how I've longed for this, finally a body again." **Sonic caught him off guard by delivering a punch straight across his face, knocking him sideways. The black hedgehog crashed to the ground face down, his fire dying down to a dull roar.

"Well don't get too comfortable. That body isn't yours." Sonic replied, smashing a fist into his palm. Krish laughed again, picking himself off the road, gently brushing the small fragments of dirt off his cheek.

"This body was made to order. The mind that occupied it until now was never supposed to exist."

"But it does. It was his first, you've no right to take it!" Metal Sonic snapped.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Sonic cracked his knuckles suggestively.

A pile of rubble heaved and Fang pushed himself out from under it, shaking himself to dislodge a thick amount of dust and shattered brick. Rubbing the back of his head, he looked up through the gloom. The entire Foundation skyscraper had collapsed around him. The shattered ruins casting shadows across the snow covered streets. The faint blare of sirens in the background growing louder as emergency vehicles got closer.

Try as he might, Fang just could not remember what he was doing here. There was a loud echoing bang and a green flare illuminated the sky, followed by another in succession. Those explosions shook the ground beneath his feet, the rubble around him groaned, threatening to collapse on him again.

Despite his lack of memory, it was clear that staying here was far too dangerous. Quickly the weasel pulled himself out from under the rubble, dodging out of the water as a metal pipe fell from somewhere above him, nearly landing on top of him. Darting between what remained off the building, Fang desperately searched for a way out, to some form of familiar surroundings, but kept coming up on dead ends. The green flares that crossed the sky where beginning to become more violent and the explosions that followed them nearly knocked him off his feet with their force.

Finally, after coming down a desert alleyway, he witnessed two blue objects hurtle through the air and crash straight into the side of an overturned car. Sonic crashed through the wind screen, cutting his leg before rolled to a stop in a pile of snow. Metal ricocheted off the door and collided with the side of a building, disappearing from view.

As a torrent of laugher echoed, Fang saw what had thrown them across the street. It was Shadow, the well known black and red Hedgehog from the ARK. But he was glowing bright emerald green, the green fire around him. Dancing to his whim whenever he raised an arm of gestured with his head, like it was part of him. Within that fire, Fang finally saw what had happened.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" He demanded. "Where am I?" Whoever was sitting in the chair did not reply for a moment, instead he let the weasel stare around on confusion for a while.

"You know, despite your recent, humiliating defeat. You're still the best bounty hunter and assassin this planet had to offer." Fang looked his way, confusion plain in his eyes. He tried to edge closer to see who was speaking to him, but only managed a few inches for his shaken nerves stopped him.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, his voice more unstable.

"That is irrelevant." It replied. "What is however is the offer I'm proposing for you." The Weasel tried to tell himself that was all a dream, some bizarre fantasy. He was still in bed, suffering a nightmare. Suddenly some sort of subliminal idea kicked in and what the speaker had actually said registered.

"Offer?" He asked without shaking at all. The man chuckled slightly and placed his arms on the end of the table.

"I thought that might grab your attention." Talking business seemed to unlock Fang's sadistic side, so to him at that point it didn't matter exactly who or what he was talking to. "I am offering a very simple arrangement, one I know you can live by. You serve me and my cause now." Fang waited for several seconds before asking…

"And?"

"That is all. You will now serve me." The man replied, folding his arms. Fang stared at him, blinked once before asking again…

"What about payment?" The man was silent for a hostile moment, his eyes narrowing.

"You shall receive nothing of the sort." He snapped, almost angrily.

"No money? No deal, I bid you good day sir." Fang said with venom in reply. The gentlemen leaned forward in the chair, revealing his face. He was human, with short brown hair, dark tanned skin and strangely radiant green eyes.

"My dear Mr. Sniper. I believe you misunderstand the situation you are in. You see…" He began as the weasel turned to give him a look back over his shoulder. "You don't have any choice!" Without warning a green flare erupted from his eyes and Fang, former Chaotix member Nack the Weasel could only scream as his world vanished in a green haze.

* * *

Now he remembered. Someone had been controlling him, and whoever it was, was inside Shadow's body. Using him like a puppet, just like they'd used Fang. The weasel would like nothing better than to get his own back, but he had just seen this guy bat Sonic the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic off like they were flies. If they couldn't beat him, his chances weren't much better.

Sonic pulled himself up, his body aching. A trail of blood was leaking out the side of his mouth and his skin was covered with bruises and cuts. Sonic had already thrown everyone at him but the kitchen sink and Krish was still coming. It was like nothing hurt him. Any kicks and punches that got through his defences his body had took without so much as flinching.

There had to be some way of beating this guy. Sonic wasn't about to abandon Shadow to this terrible fate. Suddenly, someone seized his arm. Sonic looked down, to see a old man in a black robe holding onto him and the bizarre thing was, he looked like he was getting older by the second. His black hair first turned silver, then white, then finally fell out.

"He…lied to us." He gasped through withered gums, his teeth falling out. Sonic had never seen anything so disgusting. "I devoted two hundreds years to him, all that time he was lying to me. You have to stop him."

"That's what I'm trying to do!" Sonic replied, looking past his hiding place towards the black hedgehog, who was just standing there, waiting for his adversaries to make the first move. He was toying with them. "But nothing hurts him."

"Chaos Energy." The old man gasped, now hardly able to speak. By now, he looked like he was over a hundred going on a hundred and fifty. Sonic looked back, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Krish's presence is maintained in our world by his spirit. Dilute it with Chaos Energy and he will be forced back to whatever dimension he calls home." Before Sonic could ask what he meant by that, the old man collapsed to the ground, before withering even more, becoming a skeleton, that collapsed into dust seconds later. After two centuries of life, Arthur Falcon the third, finally died.

"Gross!" Sonic declared as the old man's hand dissipated around his arm. Metal Sonic came souring out from the building he'd got knocked out off, souring through the air with a flying kick. Krish caught his foot in his open hand, before tossing Metal like a rag doll into the ground several times.

Chaos Energy? Would that work? Nothing else seemed to be working, so there wasn't much harm in at least trying. Only problem was, how to introduce Chaos Energy into Shadow's…Sonic's eyes widened as an idea came to mind. It was dangerous, not only posing risks not only for Shadow, but for himself too. If he was work, or he made the slightest mistake, it was more than likely they would both die. But it was the only way he was going to make it work. He groaned, realizing he had no choice.

Darting out from behind the car, he raced straight at Krish, going as fast as his legs could carry him. Becoming a blue blur, the hedgehog poured one more speed and at the same time, call on the ability that only he and Shadow could use.

Tails had had to land the X tornado some distance away and approaching the battlefield on foot had taken some time. Amy had been raring to hit something with her hammer for ages now, he was getting close to hitting Tails a few times when he lead then down some dead ends. It was hard to tell exactly which way there were going with all this brick dust in the air. And the ominous green flashes in the sky were doing little to fill them with confidence.

"Hey look!" Chris began, pointing through the gloom towards figure standing at the far end of the road. Completely bathed in green light, doing what appeared to be a very large number on Metal Sonic, bashing the robot across the face and side before picking him up and smashing him into the ground. "Is that Shadow?"

Krish looked aside just in time to see a blue blur hit him straight on, flying directly into his body as the words "CHAOS CONTROL" where tossed into the air. The sheer force of it force the possessed black hedgehog back a few steps, his eyes wide in horror. Sonic had completely disappeared, absorbed into his body. Suddenly there was a white flare and Shadow's body morphed, becoming bright white. His quills more jagged and uncoordinated, the strength in his limbs increasing ten fold. Krish could feel more power than he'd images flowing through him. Whatever Sonic had been trying to do, it had failed. It was back fired completely.

"The power of Nazo." The ancient dark god laughed, his own power elevated to unheard off proportions. **"I'll rip this world apart!" **Metal Sonic picked himself up off the floor, looking up in horror. Krish's new body was glowing like a new sun. That figure had haunted his dreams, the fused form of Sonic the Shadow, the same being that had defeated him when he had been Metal Overlord.

"Sonic…" He began. _"What have you done?"_

_

* * *

_

Flip Card 1:

Name: Shadow (Possessed)

Sex: Male

Age: 51

Species: Hedgehog

Job description: Succeeding in placing his mind inside Shadow's body, the dark god Krish Kra pal is hell bent on destroying the world.

(R&R)


	28. Episode 14, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X etc)

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Nazo

Sex: Male

Age: (subject to debate)

Species: Hedgehog

Job description: The fused version of Sonic and Shadow, a being that took down the Metal Overlord.

* * *

The power of Nazo, ten times what Krish had expected to gain from his forced possession of Shadow's body. That idiot Sonic had done him the greatest favour anyone could. He had elevated his power to new heights. With the kind of strength he had now, he could level with entire city in an instant. Nothing on earth would be able to stop him. Glowing a sickly mixture of white and green, the possessed hedgehog looked down towards the battered Metal Sonic on the ground below him, nearly beaten into a rusty pile of scrap metal.

"You're friend was a simpleton He said with sadistic hate, before pulling his leg back and dealing the most powerful kick imaginable straight into Metal Sonic's side, sending the robot flying into the air. Metal Sonic spiralled before crashed through a building, shooting out the other side and disappearing into the sky. So much strength. He could level a building with a single punch. **"There is nothing to stop me now. All I have to do is clench a fist, and Station Square disappears of the face of the planet." **He looked down at his open hand, imagining the chaos he would inflict on the entire city just by closing it. A search light lanced out of the sky, targeting the hedgehog on the ground., Krish looked up, to see three police helicopters hovering above him.

"This is Police, remain where you are!" Simple toys. Krish simply glanced in their direction and the blades above their fragile machines snapped in two. The pilots bailed out, jumping to safety before their choppers collided with the side of a building. Squad cars, as they rounds the corners went flying into the sky, crashing into each other, their windows shattering and their tyres bursting. They all started running like frightened vermin as he approached, sending the odd low power level orb.

The first thing he would do with this fantastic new power would be to wipe this pathetic humans and their self righteous governments from…his eyes widened and suddenly his skin started cracking like dried sandstone. The lines glowing a strange green, beams of white light lancing out.

"What is this?!" Krish demanded, staggering back a few steps. From every part of his new body, cracks began appearing. Every limb seemed like a chore to move. Suddenly, what was happening became very clear to the ancient dark god. **"Sonic, you're doing this!"**

**

* * *

**

Krish looked aside just in time to see a blue blur hit him straight on, flying directly into his body as the words "CHAOS CONTROL" where tossed into the air. The sheer force of it force the possessed black hedgehog back a few steps, his eyes wide in horror. Sonic had completely disappeared, absorbed into his body. Suddenly there was a white flare and Shadow's body morphed, becoming bright white. His quills more jagged and uncoordinated, the strength in his limbs increasing ten fold.

Sonic opened his eyes, his eyesight blurred. Slowly he lowered his arms and looked around his surroundings. Did it work? Did the fusion deal enough chaos energy into Shadow's body to force Krish out? Whatever had happened, he'd been placed in some bizarre new location. Three suns high overhead, the sky a deep blood red. Looking up, the blue hedgehog could see familiar images rolling across the blue clouds.

With amazement, Sonic realized he was looking at Shadow's memories. How Eggman had freed him from the stasis pod on Prison Island, when the Eclipse Cannon fired at the moon and when the two of them had merged into Nazo.

"Cool. I'm inside Shadow's head!" Sonic declared, looking around his new surroundings. The inside of the black hedgehog's mind was a barren wasteland, littered with crumbling stone statues of a human girl. Standing around him like the walls of a maze, blocking his path in nearly every direction.

This wasn't the outcome that he had been hoping for that was for certain, but perhaps this could more to his advantage. How he had a chance to help Shadow from the inside, while the Chaos energy the merger had introduced helped to deal with that Krish guy.

So this was Maria. He looked up towards one of the statues. There had to be at least a thousand of them all around like, all blocking his way like the walls of a maze. She must have meant a lot to him, to have this big a place in his mind. For the first time Sonic actually realized that he had absolutely no plan, no idea were he was in the deep reaches of the black hedgehog's head and no way to battle the presence that held his body. Once again he had rushed into things with no idea what to do.

Well, no point in waiting around for something to happen. He closed in eyes, spun around and pointed his arm in the direction he stopped in. "That way it is." He said to himself, taking the path between two statues that were leaning against one another.

Everywhere he went there was nothing nut towering statues of the human girl. They were all over the place. When he had compared them to the walls of a maze he hadn't been too far off. Getting past these statues proved near impossible and for some reason he felt like he was going around in circles.

He could smash them with a spin attack, but he just didn't have the hear to wreak something in the visage of Shadow's old friend. So instead, he used his speed to race up the side of one of them, reaching the top. Standing over the statues now, he could see an endless sea of them, going on in every direction. He looked up. Another of Shadow's memories was playing out.

In it, Sonic could see her face smiling. Sonic could see exactly how important she was to him, and he could only image the grief he had been given when she died. If these images were anything to go by, she was like a sister to him.

Something off in the horizon caught his attention. Staring off, Sonic could see another statue, this one over ten times larger than the others. It wasn't made in the likeness of Maria, instead in was in that of her grandfather, Prof. Gerald Robotnik. An entire mountain, carved in his image. From the top of the head, a pulsated white glow was beating like the beacon on a lighthouse.

While it didn't look too inviting, that might be the best place to start looking for someway to help his friend. It didn't take too long to race across the top of the maze towards the bottom of the large Mountain. Once there he only paused for a second to compose himself before rocketing up the side of it. On the way up, Sonic passed through several of the images portraying Shadow's memories and as he did so, feelings associated with those memories were forced onto him. One moment he could be feeling happiness, and the next unbearable sadness and grief. But one very strong emotion was a vengeful anger that nearly consumed him.

It took quite a deal of willpower to push through it, but eventually the blue hedgehog arrived at the top of the statue. The first thing there was Shadow himself, lying on the ground, engulfed in a green orb that was producing the beacon light.

"Hey Shadow, wakey wakey!" Sonic began, reaching for the unconscious black and red hedgehog. As his head penetrated the orb, he was instantly hurled back, nearly over the edge to a very long drop.

"I've waited eight thousand years for my freedom. I will not let some insignificant hedgehog stop me now." Hanging onto the edge for dear life, Sonic looked up to see a towering figure standing over him. A pair of glowing red eyes staring down at him. Krish Kra Pal's form within the ultimate life forms head was like one of the statues they'd seen in the Echidna's cathedral. A large, humanoid like form with large muscles. A pair of insect pincers were the mouth should be, two goat like goats curving out the side of the skull head. Large spikes of bone were lined up along his shoulders, arms, legs and along a muscular tail. His hands were cloven, the fingers large curved talons. Covering his body was a thin black fur, red streaks running over his muscles.

Sonic grunted and pulled himself up, standing before the demonic creature in defiance. **"Shadow is mine!"**

"Shadow is his own person. You've no right to take him." The red eyes narrowed at him.

"Who are you, to tell me what rights I do and don't have? I am a living god!"

"A high opinion of yourself doesn't give you permission to use people like this." A large hand swung around, trying to cleave Sonic with it's large claws. Sonic dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding it.

"You will not interfere!"

"Shame, interference is what I do best." The sky above them instantly become thick with clouds, a thick thunderstorm blaring thunder and lightning, Shadow's very worst memories rocketing across the clouds. Sonic could see Maria's body lying on the floor, her clothes slowly staining with blood. Krish swung one of his arms down, sinking his claws into the ground, tearing a large chuck of rock out of the giant statue. Sonic dodged around it as the demonic figure tossed it at him, before he raced forward, lying a punch straight across his face, knocking him to the ground.

"We're in a place where strength doesn't matter. Willpower's the only thing that counts here!" The blue hedgehog said, doubling back as a kick scored itself into Krish' chest. The demon staggered backwards, screaming in outrage.

Lunging forward, a pair of pincers wide open, snapping around Sonic's body holding him in place. Sonic struggled against the grip, but Krish reached up, clutched the hedgehog in his talons before tossing him up into the air. His tail wiped around, batting Sonic into the ground.

"Then I will win!" Krish declared, before roaring loudly as Sonic rolled to the side, claws slamming into the ground trying to impale him. Eons of frustration and anger fuelling him, Krish swung claws and talons at the blue hedgehog like an enraged beast. Sonic's speed was all that was keeping him ahead of those deadly swipes. A momentary slip as all that was required for instant death, with that in mind, he did his best to stay ahead of his opponent. But at some time during the battle, Krish drew blood, slashing Sonic across the shoulder. Grunting in pain, the blue hedgehog flattered for a second. Enough time to Krish's tail to whip round and smash itself straight into Sonic's back.

Spiralling through the air, Sonic caught the edge of the giant Gerald's moustache just in time to prevent plummeting to his death. Hanging on for dear life, a very long drop below him, the blue hedgehog struggled to keep himself from falling as the demonic being stood over him. He raised a claw, preparing one last strike.

"I could sure use Shadow's help right about now." The blue hedgehog muttered to himself and even as he said it, a final realization came to him. Shadow could help him. He looked back down towards the clouds that kept portraying Shadows memories, remembering exactly how they'd forced their emotions onto him when he passed through them. A large grin crossed his face before he glared up at Krish. "Hey, big and ugly. You going to stand there all day looking nasty, or do we finish this?" Kirhs; narrowed his eyes before letting his arm swing open, talons out stretched. Sonic waited for a the right moment and when it came, the grabbed one of the demons fingers and before Krish could stop himself, Sonic used the momentum to toss him over the edge and straight into a cloud containing one of Shadow's worst memories, having to watch Maria die in front of his eyes.

Krish screamed as it took effect, filling his entire being with intense anguish and pain. His body convulsed, trying desperately to escape. Sonic climbed back up to the top of the statue, watching the demonic figure disappearing in the white haze of the clouds, his screams growing quieter with each passing second. The blue hedgehog sighed in relief. That had been too close for comfort. "Ok Shadow. Let's get you out of here." He said, walking over to the black and red hedgehog. This time he stopped to study the strange force field he was engulfed by, looking from someway of turning it off.

Now that he looked closer, he could see that the ground Shadow was lying on was engraved with two circles and the green glow seemed to be emanating from its outer rim. At one point on this circle there was a large stone orb that broke the field. That had to be significant. Approaching it rather carefully, expecting to be tossed back by some invisible force again, Sonic gently touched it. Instantly the green glow dissipated, vanishing completely, leaving Shadow unbound.

The black hedgehog was still out cold, that is until Sonic drew his hand back and slapped him across the face.

"OWW!" The black hedgehog yelled, sitting up.

"Sorry, didn't have the traditional glass of water." Shadow rubbed his forehead, groaning, a sharp intake of air making a hissing sound.

"What happened…where am I?" He began, shaking his head to rid himself of the nausea. Sonic was about to answer when a dark shadow loomed over them like something had stood in the path of the sunlight. Looking back, Sonic saw a giant towering demonic figure with spikes lancing out of his shoulders, red glowing eyes, insect like pincers and huge horns. "YOU!" Shadow declared, memory suddenly flooding into his eyes as he recalled everything that had happened.

"I SHALL NOT LET YOU GO!!!" Krish screamed descending on them, fury burning his eyes.

"Shadow, let's send this freak packing!" Sonic stated, giving the black and red hedgehog a side glance. Shadow meet his gaze and nodded, turning back to face Krish, his giant talons ready to wrap around them.

"Let's do it!" Their energies connected and before Krish could stop them, their combined strength smashed itself into him. It was more than enough to rip him from Shadow's mind entirely, forcing him out with pure chaos energy. As his diluted his own power, Krish's entire body began to dissolve. He screamed, stumbling backwards, before their power devoured his body entirely and he disappeared with one final scream that echoed through the air.

* * *

As Metal Sonic pulled himself up over the edge of the roof he had clung to for dear life, he was Nazo screamed before the air around him rippled and two hedgehogs threw thrown out of a pure flare of white light. Sonic slid along the ground of the snow covered street straight into a snow bank, disappearing from sight. Shadow landed against a street lamp, coming to a immediate stop.

"That…" Sonic began, poking his head above the snow. "That was fun, but let's not do it again any time soon." Shadow rubbed the back of his neck as he stood up rather unsteadily, his legs having lost a good deal of their strength.

"I feel awful." He remarked, leaning against the street lamp for support. Gently it began snowing again, the air filled with small white flakes.

"What happened?" Metal Sonic sliding down a thick bank of snow to the street below. _"One minute Nazo was beating the crap out of me, the next the two of you are here." _Sonic smiled, a smug grin coming over his face.

"My brilliant plan was a complete success." He replied.

"Care to explain this brilliant plan?"

"I would, if I understood what happened myself." Fang had been watching for some time. Well so much for that problem. Now would be an excellently opportune time to slip away unnoticed and then return one day to take revenge for his humiliating defeats. As he turned, he paused to give thought. This was certainly not the last time they would have trouble from Fang the Sniper.

The silence in the air was broken as more police choppers neared. The Swat police came hurtling around the corner, sirens blaring. A small detachment from the G.U.N peace keeper force, three pilots inside large Big foot Walkers came flying in to support the police. But by the time any of them arrived on the scene, there was no body left to arrest. Metal Sonic, his own engines too badly damaged for flight had to ride inside the X tornado with Amy, who found it hard to stay within three feet of the metallic hedgehog.

"Tails, have you any idea what just happened back there?" Chris asked. Tails shook his head. He did know and quite frankly he didn't want to know. Half the stuff they managed to get themselves involved in was so far fetched it made fairy tales look plausible.

"Face it Shadow. You owe me big time." Sonic stated, folding his arms as he grinned smugly. The black hedgehog said nothing. He just sat there with his arms crossed, staring off into space. "Oh come on. I just saved your life." Sonic added, trying to attract Shadow's attention by waving his arms about. "A 'thank you' is the least you can do." The black hedgehog turned to give him a sideways glance.

"That stunt could have killed us both." He replied, his voice flat and emotionless.

"Maybe it could have…" Sonic began, leaning back against the wings of the X-Tornado. "But it didn't did it?"

"Starting taking things seriously Sonic." Shadow snapped. Sonic paused, stunned by his abruptness. "The next time you use Chaos Control to help you in battle, it could be the biggest mistake of your life." Sonic narrowed his eyes and turned away sulking. "Which is why I've decided to teach you how to use Chaos Control properly." The black hedgehog added as Sonic spun back, a stunned glare on his face, his green eyes wide in utter confusion. "If you expect to compete with scum like Krish, then you'll have to be able to use Chaos Control without killing yourself. As the only other person on this planet who can use it as well, I'm the only one qualified to teach you." Sonic blinked.

"You serious?" He asked. Shadow simply nodded. Sonic paused, his stunned expression maintaining itself before he blinked and cried… "Cool!"

"Oh and Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

* * *

. ****

(In Chris' voice)

Have we seen the last of Krish? Hope so.

But the race is on as the second Emerald Tournament begins, with a twist. It's super speed time with the Sonic R saga, next time on Sonic X: Road Rage rampage. Don't miss it!

* * *

(I lot of people have asked me if I was going to do a Sonic R saga, and now I can tell you I am. Let's see how well I can fit Sonic R into the story so far shall we? R&R)


	29. Episode 15, part 1

(I do not own Sonic etc. Koji Naoko Okida and the fic itself is copyright to me.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

**Sonic R Saga**

* * *

Episode 15: Road Rage Rampage

The president had a crisis on his hands. Election week was only a month away as latest results indicated that his popularity had decreased steadily since the emergence of the Eggman Empire. If something wasn't done to lit public moral, then he might as well kiss his chances of re-election good bye. And if that wasn't enough, he had to set up an official investigation after the Foundation Building collapsed into rubble, the circumstances of which were a complete mystery but as it turned out, the Foundation was just a cover for a secret cultist sect. Their entire organisation was being brought in for questioning.

Giant wing, the massive floating fortress currently serving at the G.U.N headquarters, did little to inspire the normal civilian population. What they really needed was something fun and distracting. He had enough to think about already. Eggman Empire activity had ceased for the moment, but it never really stayed that way. Not only that, but he also had the possibility of a Eggman Empire spy leaking vital secrets to the enemy. Then it came to him. An Idea so brilliant and simple he was surprised he didn't think of it before.

"Another Emerald tournament?" Captain Okida of Freelance division repeated, his ears standing to attention after Michael told them his idea. Bean and Bark shot each other a glance, as if unsure of what to make of the President's rather unexpected proclamation. "Well, it has...potential." Their captain added, looking unsure of himself, sinking into his chair a little. "But are you sure it'll work?" The president nodded, a large smile on his face.

"Of course. It's the perfect solution. It'll kill two birds with one stone." He sat back down at the table near his desk. "Serving to boast public moral and flush out the spy." Rouge the bat, their most skill espionage agents had been silent throughout the meeting. Sitting next to Topaz, watching everyone with half closed eyes.

"Well, I'm certain a Chaos Emerald as a prize will attract Dr. Eggman's attention. But if you remember, the last tournament ended disastrously when that Gizoid ran amok at the stadium. I doubt people will want a repeat of that." The large grin of Michaels face refused to leave.

"I know, which is why this time, I thought of a nice alteration to keep the crowds happy." All of Freelance division suddenly looked nervous. The President reached into his desk and withdrew a rolled up piece of paper. Unrolling it, he held it up towards them. It was a poster, showing a race track around the city, the desert ruins and various other locations. Printed in big red letters at the top were the words _'Emerald Grand Prix.' _"What do you think?" What was passing through all their minds at the moment was confusion and it took a moment for one of them to think of a decent reply.

"Great..." Okida replied hesitantly, an unsure smile on his face. "Wonderful sir." His division cast him a glance, before looking back, nodding in nervous agreement. All except for Rouge, who remained completely detached and unsympathetic to her boss' opinion of his own plans.

"Sure a race will work?" The President leaned back into his chair.

"Just look at that free for all race between Sam Speed and Sonic. I can't even begin to imagine the ratings that had." Rouge slapped her forehead.

"I meant will it draw Dr. Eggman out into the open?"

"If he wants a Chaos Emerald, it'll work."

"And when exactly do you want to have his tournament?"

"Immediately!" With or without Rouge's support, the announcement of an Emerald Racing Tournament was broadcast on the news and around the clocks commercials bombarded television screen up and down the country. The internet was flooded with ads and promotional flyers nearly filled the streets. All were calling on teams of three to enter for a chance at earning a Chaos Emerald. Sam Speed had been working on his racer when the announcement came over the radio. His engine was leaking oil and he'd gotten pulled over. HIM pulled over?! It went beyond embracement. Hearing the words race and tournament in the same sentence, the human shot right up, hitting his head on the underside of his cars engines and falling to the ground unconscious.

Most of the worlds news broadcasts were being monitored by the one person they were all trying to catch. Dr. Eggman found this latest announcement very interesting. As he watched the report play out on the large main screen, Decoe and Becoe scurried around helping to get the badly damaged Egg Carrier 3 operational again, which was not an easy task. Considering how much damage it had taken when Emerl self destructed inside it's cannon. With little else to do, his great battleship nearly beyond all hope of repair, the doctor took to personally monitoring the news broadcasts.

"A racing tournament?" The doctor repeated, tapping his fingers together, an eyebrow raised. "Sounds fun. I think I'll enter my own team."

"But Doctor." Becoe began looking up from his work. "Why don't you simply steal the emerald?" The doctor looked down on the hence-robot from his metallic throne.

"And ruin all the fun?" He asked sceptically. "Certainly not. I've always wanted to show that hedgehog up at his own game." Sonic himself had been training with Shadow, trying to perfect Chaos Control when Amy brought a flyer to him. So far Sonic could teleport a fix distance of a few feet safely. After that, lessons were postponed, despite Shadow's best protests. Tails saw the news report and decided now was a good time to test out his latest piece of engineering. He looked back with a large grin towards the large machine at the back of his workshop, concealed underneath a canvas sheet.

Even Metal Sonic got excited at the prospect. To compete alongside Sonic in front of a huge crowd of people, at the one thing they all enjoyed the most, seemed irresistible. Vector, along with his numerous financial problems, saw a ray of sunshine coming from the web site ad he'd been staring at for the last ten minutes. That Chaos emerald had to be worth a fortune. Although Espio persistently tried to remind him that they were detectives, not racers, it did little to hinder the crocodile from entering them.

Working on the racing tracks through Station Square, Capital City, the desert ruins and one through an old abandoned oil refinery began at once. The entire process would have taken years, but with help of the military nudged into aiding the working by the President, everything was completed inside a few months. The entire country grew ecstatic about it, just as Michael had predicted. This, combined with the Christmas season had everyone in high spirits. So far, his plan was working like a charm. There already several corporations asking if they could sponsor the tournament. Many teams from foreign countries were asking if they could participate. This new Emerald Grand Prix was quickly becoming a popular as the Olympic events. Finally, a date was set for the race to begin. The teams that had signed up for the available positions had until December the 10th to prepare themselves.

As the days slowly ticked by, Sonic became more and more agitated that time didn't move as fast as he could. The blue hedgehog couldn't wait to get out and race against the best the entire world had to offer. Shadow, so confident of his own abilities, simply spent his time watching Sonic run up and down a stretch of beach a couple of miles long each day. A thick cloud of sand kicking up behind him.

Sam Speed had his car put through a complete systems upgrade, benefiting from the advance propulsion systems they had taken from the graveyard of the Egg Fleet. He cared little for the Chaos Emerald. This was his big chance to reclaim his title as the fastest thing on Earth.

By now, Espio had given up trying to argue with Vector and simply began training to improve his speed to be able compete with some of the fastest racers out there. Charmee had been informed that flying was not specifically against the rules so even he was getting excited. Vector spent the days trying to convince his many lenders not to foreclose on him just yet as he promised them their cash within a month or two. It took a lot of guile, but he managed to pull it off. Now everything hinged on winning the tournament and obtaining that valuable Chaos Emerald.

The Emerald Grand Prix, sponsored by Coca Cola and many shoe manufactures was only a week away from beginning now. Dr. Eggman had been inside his laboratory for a several weeks. Since he had no team to compete with, he had had to create them.

"I still don't see why you don't let me compete Doctor." Theta argued persistently, angry that Eggman had decided to exclude the last of his E1000 robots from racing in the tournament.

"Theta." Eggman began, turning to give the flame throwing robot a glare over his shoulder. "You were created for battle. You simply wouldn't be able to keep up with Sonic in speed." The doctor looked up at the three robots he had just created, all still in their constructions bays, several mechanical arms working on them. One on the far left was E1007, built to match the anatomy of Knuckles the Echidna. A pair of glowing green eyes was watching them from out of the darkness, their glow highlighting the metallic dreadlocks around its head. Next to that was E1008, an experimental robot that Dr. Eggman had decided to give a test run to. If it proved successful then Eggman would create an entire army of them. From the top of this strange new robots head was a red jewel, glowing a blood red. Finally, E1009 a robot built to match Eggman himself. A round metal bulk for the body and thing arms and legs. A pair of red eyes staring at them from it's near featureless face. "These three will race in my name." Theta turned away, sulking. "Ok then, Activate Metal Knuckles, Tails Doll and Egg Robo." The lights flew on and the robotic arms retracted into the ceiling, finishing their work. Metal Knuckles was a Metal series robot, just like Metal Sonic but built to match Knuckles. Its arms were two large bracers with two large steal claws on the end. Its dreadlocks were wide and wide, a wipe stripe on their ends.

Tails doll was just what it was. A sewn together doll of Tails that Eggman had picked up from a toy shop. What made it move was experimental nanotechnology that was powered by the small gem on the top of its head. It wasn't as powerful as a Chaos Emerald, but it sufficed.

Egg Robo was the first to venture out of its construction bay, its thin legs miraculous keeping up the large egg shaped body. Its colours, mostly red with a black underbelly, two yellow triangles over its shoulders were passed off a uniform Eggman used to wear some years ago, in it's right hand was a short laser rifle. "It's race time." The Doctor added with a wide smile. Standing over the first track that was to host the preliminary races, the President's wide smile would not budge. The track was a winding costal route across the beach, up into some nearby hills, through a long tunnel and then back again. It had been dubbed the Resort Island track. Anticipating Sonic's participation, Michael had made sure all the tracks were long enough to even posse a challenge to even him. Everything had been proceeding perfect. If the popularity of his Grand Prix increased any more, he'd have to make it an annual event, which actually didn't seem like a bad idea.

"Me?!" Captain Okida exclaimed when the President told him that he would be participating in the tournament. "I'm a pilot, not a racer. With respect sir..."

"That's an order." The President added quickly before the vampire bat could get another word in. "I need you to keep an eye on things from the inside in case Eggman stirs up any trouble." Koji Naoko Okida looked stunned, his mouth hung open and eyebrows raised in complete surprise and exclamation. "Bean and Bark will be your team mates." Okida said nothing; he simply saluted knowing that he was going to race whether he liked it or not. "Now don't worry. I'm sure you can fly pretty fast. Maybe I'll even be presenting the Chaos Emerald to you so we won't have to worry about handing it over to the wrong person." Okida staggered away, looking stunned.

The Tornado had been two badly damaged to be repaired completely, even Chuck couldn't work miracles. So instead of trying to turn it back into a plane, Tails converted it into a high speed car. It still had flight capability, but not enough for more than a glide. Tails quickly discovered that it could move a lot faster than he'd originally thought when one its first test run, it accelerated to speeds of over a hundred miles an hour in under six seconds.

"You'll have to do better than that Tails." Sam Speed shouted over his shoulder as his own car shot past Tails', rounding the corner in the desert at speeds even Sonic would be hard pressed to compete with, leaving the fox in the dust. Amy was a fighter, not a racer, but she was still going to try. She had been practicing her sprinting for months now. Mobians could naturally run a lot faster than humans; Sonic and Shadow simply took it to the extremes. She was by no means as fast as them, but she was making good progress.

Sonic, Shadow and Metal Sonic had been racing against each other to see which one of them was fastest out of the three. They had had a photo finish time and time and each time Chuck and Chris had been completely unable to determine which one of them had finished first. They all seemed equal.

"Ok the, let's try that again..." Chris began, hitting the top of his stop watch seeing that their time had improved by four seconds. "But this time with these on." He produced a wooden crate full of large leg and arm weights. Sonic stared at the weights with his mouth open.

"Oh come on...." He began.

"No buts." Helene told them sharply. "You want to compete; you train like Metal and Shadow."

"You're all so cruel."

"We love you to Sonic." Amy replied with a wink.

Espio's speed had improved dramatically, but Vector still wanted to see him shave seven seconds of his lap time. Charmee, surprisingly, proved to be their fastest member using his wings to zip past Espio to the finish line.

"Oh come on Vector, how about a break huh?" Espio asked, pausing to catch his breath while the Crocodile checked their overall time. "We've been at this all day and all night. I need sleep." Vector simply gave him a glance over his shoulder.

"You can sleep when I've got that jewel firmly in hand." It was times like these that the chameleon began to wonder if the courts would understand if he killed his boss. "Besides Espio, wouldn't you rather sleep on top of a pile of money?" There image popped into his head, a wide grin crossed his face, before he took to the track again travelling faster than he had before. "Works every time." Vector added shaking his head.

"Let's keep it challenging huh?" Sonic asked Shadow as the two of them raced along; the weights on their arms dragging them both down a bit. "During the race, forget Chaos Control. That's just not fair on anyone." Shadow nodded in agreement.

"Fine." He replied, before disappearing in a green haze and reappearing further down the beach.

"HEY!" Sonic shouted up to him. "What did I just say?!"

"The Tournament hasn't started yet."

Koji Naoko Okida was quick to discover that he was fast, even without a G.U.N walker to pilot. His large leathery wings could take him further and faster than he'd first imagined. Even Bean and Bark were able to move pretty fast when the motivation hit them. Bark looked a little on the chubby side, but apparently only five percent of his overall body mass was actually fat. What lay underneath the thick golden fur was actually trained muscle.

"I still say there are better agents suited for this mission." Bean remarked as Okida slid to stop after landing.

"So do I." The bat remarked wearily. "But let's get on and do our jobs, maybe we'll get some medals for this."

"Don't hold your breath."

The Doctor sized up his three new robots, each one could not have been more different from the other. Metal Knuckles so streamlined and deadly, Tails Doll so strangely shaped, floating off the ground lifelessly and Egg Robo with it's round body and thin legs like a robotic version of the Doctor himself. "This is your mission." Eggman began and all three of them stood to attention. "You are to win your races at any cost. If are up against the Hedgehog, do not let him cross the finish line before any of you. I want him humiliated on live TV. Is that understood?"

"_Yes Doctor."_

"_Yes Doctor."_

"_Yes Doctor."_

"Good." Eggman replied, rubbing his hands together. Sonic had cost him the greatest victories he could have achieved for the Eggman Empire. Humbling him in front of ten million people seemed like sufficient payback.

Finally the waiting period ended and the tournament was set to begin. The Emerald Grand Prix was about to start.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: E1007, E1008, E1009 aka (Metal Knuckles, Tails Doll and Egg Robo.)

Age: Only a few days

Job description: Egggman's three latest robots. Speed models, to be used in the Emerald Grand Prix.

(R&R)


	30. Episode 15, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X...etc.)

Flip Card 2:

* * *

Name: Sam Speed

Age: 22

Sex: Male

Job description: Retired formula one race car driver, Sam Speed had been known as the fastest thing alive until Sonic showed up. Now he wishes to reclaim his title.

* * *

Thousands of people bought up tickets and merchandise in a whirlwind of consumerism, everyone trying to get a front row seat to what promised to be the greatest competition the States had ever seen. By the time all the seats were full, the stadium that held the spectators had over five thousand people in it and many more had gathered outside to watch the giant screens they had put up for those who didn't manage to get into the stadium in time before it filled up. The Stadium that had been constructed for the Tournament was the entrance to every single track the Grand prix was to feature. It was constructed on an artificial island just off the coast of Station Square. A large bridge connected it to the majority of the Radical City track in the city centre itself, a sharply turning road down into the Resort Island and another bridge that could either lead to the Regal Ruin of Reactive Factory courses.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is First class news reporter Scarlet Garcia serving as commenter, welcoming you to the start of the new Emerald Grand Prix." The roar of the crowd around those who had already gathered inside the stadium to participate increasing to a deafening yell as thousands of balloons floated into the air, large blimps carrying adds flew overhead. This event was being broadcast across the entire country and to many other nations oversees as well. Ratings had sky rocketed for any channel that showed it in England and France. It had stopped snowing for the moment and the track had been gritted.

Scarlet Garcia, who had been the commenter for the near historic race between Sam Speed and Sonic was back to host it inside the commenter's box at the top of the stadium. "We've got some famous faces competing for a shot at winning the grand Prize of a priceless Chaos Emerald. Let's introduce the first of the three man teams." She waited until the crowds roar died down. Chris, Chuck and Helen were already in the crowd. Chuck had decided to threat himself with a giant foam hand and large Nacho dip. Cream and Vanilla were there as well and so was Emerl, although in case any one recognised him as the robot that tore apart the last stadium, he had disguised himself in a trench coat and hat. "Patrolling our streets, a retired formula racer as their captain, introducing the S-Team. Give them a big hand!" Sam Speed, another of his own racers and Tails walked out into the light from a side passage leading to the starting post. Tails and Sam had decided, since their mode of transport was the same that they were better on the same team. Many people knew them both and cheered as they waved up. "These next three have made themselves quite a name for themselves around Station Square. Many of our viewers may recognize them from my coverage of the Egg Fleet disaster; give it up for Team Chaotix!" As Vector and his comrades walked out, quite a lot of people from Station Square began cheering and the rest of them just clapped. Vector had every intention in beating the pants off the competition here. "That's not all folks; we have three of G.U.N's greatest pilots and athletes racing together today. Let me introduce, Team Dead Shot." Okida had removed the red drape he had over his shoulders. It would just get in the way of his flying here. Bark had been ordered to remove his scarf but that was one order he paid absolutely no attention to. "We've got so many great racers already people, there can't possibly be anymore lurking the wings can there. There can, because here they come now. Three so famous you'd have to have been living in your mother's basement for years not to know who they are. Come on out, Team Sonic!" The cheers that radiating from the Stadium as Sonic, Shadow Amy and Metal Sonic as a reserve walked out might have been heard from space. It took them a full three minutes to stop cheering at the sight of the blue hedgehog, so renowned for great deeds throughout the entire world. Now that he was here, nearly every television set on the planet had tuned in to see the tournament.

"Team Sonic?" Shadow asked sourly as the roar began to die down. "Why did we name our group after you?" Sonic simply smirked.

"Because I'm the most public spirited one." He answered smugly, putting his hands on his hips.

"Vanity, sheer vanity. Amy added. Sonic gained a sweat drop and a nervous laugh. After a moment for the crowd to absorb Sonic's arrival, Scarlet began announcing the arrival of other teams from up and down the country and other nations. Men and Mobians alike were here to race. Some for the glory, others just to get their hands on the Chaos Emerald, which they had up in the President's private viewing box, high above the stadium next to the commenters room. He would hand it personally to the winner of the tournament. Sonic couldn't wait to get started. He started hoping from one foot to the other impatiently until Metal slapped him on the back of the head.

"For the benefits of those who haven't been told yet, this how the Tournament works." Scarlet began. "The Preliminary races consist of six racers, three from each team. Whoever finishes first advances to the next round; those who don't are eliminated from the competition. This system stops at the Semi finals, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The two teams that wins the Tournament, as you know, race each other for the grand prize of an actual the Chaos Emerald. Those in second places are given prize money of a staggering five hundred thousand dollars." The dollar signs in Vector's eyes returned and Espio groaned. "This Tournament is 'no holds barred'. Racers can use whatever vehicles they want in order to win, but be assured ladies and gentlemen, every safety precaution had been taken into account when designing the course. Since I've already introduced the teams, let's get on with the Preliminary rounds."

****

"NOT SO FAST!" A booming, familiar voice from the air shouted and suddenly a giant holographic head of Dr. Eggman appeared above the stadium, projected from the Egg Carrier 3 that was hovering just outside of the island perimeter, away from any attack by G.U.N forces. People started screamed at the sight of Dr. Eggman's face sneering down at them from above. Sonic groaned, that guy allways ame along to spoil the party. **_"I, the infamous Dr. Eggman, also have a team to enter into the tournament."_** Before any of them could say a thing, three metallic figures literally leapt over the top of the stadium and landed directly at the start of the course with a loud thud. Metal Knuckles was the most striking one there, glaring intently at Metal Sonic as if to say, _'I'm here to replace you.' _The two robots exchanged glares, hostility already filling the air between them Tails seemed freaked out by the appearance of Tails doll. While the toy come to life didn't look exactly like him, it still managed to unnerve him to the core. Egg Robo didn't attract anyone's real attention. It was the other two that managed to intimidate the crowds and millions of viewers. **_"Meet, Team Mecha!" _**At first the race officials were simply going to call the authorities until the President himself made a surprising announcement. He was actually going to let Dr. Eggman's robot's compete. That stunned the crowd in the stadium to compete silence for the first time today. Michael wasn't sure exactly what Eggman was up to, but he was certain it had nothing to do with the Grand Prix. He was going to play along until he was certain of what the Doctor really wanted.

"I should have known he'd show up." Sonic groaned as Dr. Eggman's face vanished after the announcement was made, safely assured his robots would not be attacked while they were competing in the tournament.

"What do you think our chances of winning are now Vector?" Charmee asked the crocodile, who was sizing up the new metal competition.

"Doesn't matter what they are Charmee. We're still going to win that Emerald."

"If Eggman thinks he can intimidate me with a few androids he's got another thing coming." Sam remarked casually, even though the same could not be said for Tails, who was cowering at the sight of Tails Doll's emotionless black eyes.

"It's been a strange start folks, but this just makes the Grand Prix a whole lot more interesting." Scarlet remarked once order had been restored. "Let's just hope one of our other contest teams rises to Doctor Eggman's challenge." The crowd started to chant curses at the robotic team, until Metal Knuckles silenced them with a sharp glare. "So then, let's begin with the first race of the day. In order to make this tournament fair, who the contests will be fighting will be kept secret until the beginning of the race. So now I can reveal that the opening race is between the renowned Team Sonic and Team QuickStream from France." The stadium audience applauded as Sonic, Amy and Metal Sonic approached the starting line. Shadow had lost at rock paper scissors and had to sit this first race out. Amy put some skates on to help her go faster. While she could travel fast on her own two feet, she decided she could use all the advantage she could get in this race. Team QuickStream was made up of two Mobians and a human in a flashy sports car that a technician drove out to the starting line. The two Mobians were a pair of blue birds, each with a pair of pilot goggles. Their names were Kane and Maxwell. Back on Mobius they had both been professional racers and were no stranger to the environment. The two of them, who had never even met Sonic before, even believe that one of them was fast enough to beat the blue hedgehog in speed. The human was a-wanna be racer called David who they'd picked up later down the line. His hair was chestnut brown and eye bright blur, a scar on his left check telling of some accident in his youth. His ambition had been to defeat Sam Speed in a race, but since Sonic had beaten him to it, the human had had to settle for this tournament. His car was a royal blue with golden streaks all over the bonnet.

"Let just see how fast they really are." The human commented to his two team mates, placing his helmet on his head and climbing into his car. "The course stretches out the Stadium's own road and down across the beach." Scarlet explained as a rendering of the course appeared on the large screen on the outer rim of the stadium. The Resort Island stretch ran out of the stadium, onto the five mile long beach before heading into a twisting path through the hills. Shortcuts through a forest on the edge of the map were allowed, so long as the racer could navigate through it without crashing. As Scarlet had said before, anything went in this tournament. "The first racer to finish three laps wins the round for their team. I would like to remind our contestants that this is supposed to be a clean race, no trying to trip your rivals up Efforts to slow them down however, are permitted. Racers, on your marks!" Sonic smacked a fist into his palm as the others cleared the path for the six of them. David's racing car growled angrily, just as anxious as Sonic was to hear the word GO.

"I'm so going to enjoy this." The blue hedgehog remarked, smacking a fist into his palm. "You up for this Metal, Amy?" The two bay his sides gave him a thumbs up. The two bird Mobians gave them all sneering side glance as a human holding a red and green flag approached the side of the finishing line.

"I wonder how much Sonic's improved since our race?" Sam began, looking thoughtful.

"A lot I'd say." Tails remarked. "From what Amy's been telling me, Shadow's been teaching him to use Chaos Control." Sam suddenly looked worried. Chaos Control would mean Sonic had the ability to almost be in two places at once, throwing the odds heavily in his favour. "But I think they've both agreed not to use it for the Tournament." Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Not even Eggman could have known that everything was being observed from some far away place by a being with intentions of his own. Radiant Emerald, the secluded dimensional prison did not allow Void very much invention. One of the few things he could do here was watch. Void was a small creature no bigger than the average mobian child, with a thin streamlined blue body. His eyes were a mixture of blue and black, stars of an entire universe seemingly filling them. His hair was a mint green, gently floating in the air like he was underwater. Around his wrists and ankles were bracelets made of crystal, glowing bright white. A short blue cape flowed from his shoulders. Radiant Emerald had been his home; or rather his prison for many years now and there was nothing he wanted more than to escape it. This, he realized as he watched them prepare for the race below, could very well be his one and only chance.

"GO!" Sonic flew off the starting line with Metal Sonic following close behind, Kane and Maxwell taking flight and souring after them. Amy came in fifth with David's race car taking up the rear. The roar of the crowd echoing in their ears, all six of them rocketing out of the stadium nearly immediately down towards the beach. Helicopters with live camera feeds had been standing by since this morning and were hovering in the air waiting for them as Sonic's feet in the sand. He wouldn't admit this to Chris, his girlfriend or Chuck, but all that training with weights had actually helped him a lot. He wasn't loosing his footing as much on the sand anymore. Amy had a little problem with the sand but she overcame that by skating along the rocks that lined the beach, passing Maxwell and coming neck and neck with Kane. David's car wouldn't be able to handle the sand, so he had little option to take the long road that curved around the beach, instead of the straight line through the sand.

"And Sonic and his robotic counterpart take an early lead." Scarlet announced as the shots from the helicopters doing their best to keep up with the racers came up on the screen, as well as shots from various planted cameras along the track side. All that was caught of the two in the lead were a faint pair of blurs.

"Not bad." Shadow remarked causally. "But just wait until they see me out there." The beach was cleared quickly as the racers entered the track sending through the hills. David had had to floor it just to maintain the ground on the long course. Metal Sonic took the leader, heading down a narrow road through two large hills towards a ravine, Sonic quickly following. Amy stumbled and Maxwell took back his fourth place position.

"Look at them go!" Chuck declared, waving his foam hand in the air. Chris hadn't seen his grandfather act so young since he first met Sonic. "S.O.N.I.C GO!"

The path into the long ravine almost had Sonic stopping. It was a narrow road between two large stretches of water, palm trees overhanging them. Sonic hated water, but he had never lost a race yet and he was not about to let a little H2O make him start. Metal Sonic flew right across and encouraged by his example, Sonic followed. Amy managed to come level with Maxwell, skating her hardest to pass him but the blue bird wasn't about to let her carry on without a fight. Sonic overtook Metal Sonic was their road began to elevate again, heading up into a high road that curved around a cliff face before heading back towards the stadium, passing by another crowd of spectators on the way. David was doing his best to try and climb out of the embarrassing last place position he'd been landing with since the start of the race but the road was so narrow where they were, it was nearly impossible.

Amy pushed past Maxwell, closing in on Kane's position. Maxwell however had other ideas, flying sharply to the side, nearly pinning the pink hedgehog to the wall of the cliff as the emerged onto the high road. Sonic looked back to see how she was getting on and Metal shot past him.

"Mind on the race Sonic!" The robot yelled over his shoulder. Sonic grunted and poured on the speed.

The cliff side road curved above a fifty foot drop to the jagged rocks below. A wrong turn threatening to send the unwary falling to their doom. Sonic and Metal Sonic shot past the obstacle and straight into the tunnel that they road lead into, Maxwell and Kane following, Amy keeping pace with them. A second later David's car shot out the edge, skidding a little before entering the tunnel. The tunnel roof was lined with orange lights; casting momentary shadows over their bodies are they shot past them all as high speed.

"And now out of the tunnel, they head back to the stadium for the second lap." Scarlet announced as the large screen showed two blue blurs shot out of the tunnels exit curving down the road back towards the stadium, crowds of spectators out beyond the limits of the course, cheering them on. The road back to the stadium was lined with palm trees all curved to create some kind of tunnel effect as the road entered in the entrance to the stadium itself.

Sonic was the first on to enter the stadium, shooting past the finishing line, finishing his first lap. The cheers of the stadium audience blaring around him as he curved out towards the beach, thundering applause stinging his ears.

"Come on Sonic, I've got fifty dollars riding on you!" Someone was shouting, the voice sounding suspiciously like Chuck. Metal Sonic flew past the finish line closely following his organic counterpart. Metal Knuckles had been watching the robotic hedgehog as he began his second lap. So this was Metal Sonic, the treacherous machine that betrayed Dr. Eggman and his Empire. He was one of the first few robots to actually disobey the Doctor, the only other two being E123: Omega and E102: Gamma. Metal Knuckles, while built in preparation for this tournament, had another purpose. He was Dr. Eggman's renegade hunter. Once this Grand Prix had entertained the Doctor to his satisfaction, Metal Knuckles would be ordered to hunt down and destroy the two remaining robots to have left the Empire. Metal Sonic and Omega.

Amy finally managed to pass Maxwell, closing in on Kane. The third place racer was doing everything he could to prevent her from passing, while trying desperately to catch up with Sonic and Metal. Now all the racers were on their second lap, racing down to the beach again. David had gained some good ground now that he was back on more stable road, passing Maxwell, coming up behind Amy.

Clearing the beach, Metal and Sonic were neck and neck coming up the road towards the cliff side path. A blurring Kane desperately following them, his small wings beating as hard as they could just to keep up with the two in front.

"Think we've led them on long enough?" Sonic asked Metal as the two of them drew level nearing the entrance to the tunnel The robot looked back towards their competitors behind them. He nodded. "Alright then, let's kick it up a notch." Sonic's legs became a blur and showing near impossible speed, he blasted forward, tearing through the tunnel and out the other side in second, flying down the road and right into the stadium and across the beach to begin his third lap. The output from Metal Sonic's engines increased by fifty percent and he matched Sonic's speed, following the blue hedgehog's own sonic boom with his own. Kane and Maxwell just looked stunned, slowing down and Amy flew past them, stinking her tongue out at them at she took third place.

After that, the race was over in a matter of minutes. Sonic and Metal Sonic shot across the course at record speeds, ending the race and winning a round for their team. Metal Sonic came in first because Sonic paused to see how Amy was getting on again. The blue hedgehog came in second and Amy in third. David had managed to pass his team mates and came in fourth, with Maxwell in fifth and Kane last.

The crowd cheered as Sonic slid to a stop, the friction from his trainers setting the ground on fire. He looked back to see the others cross the finishing line; they looked exhausted and defeat, except for Amy, who looked even more energetic than usual.

"And the first race of the tournament is over." Scarlet announced as loud horn blew, signalling the official end of the race. "Team Sonic advances! Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends have proven their superior speed yet again." Sam simply narrowed his eyes.

"We'll see about that." He said quietly to himself.

"But let's not forget Team QuickStream for giving them such a close race. Give them a big hand for competing folks." Sonic had never felt more alive. This tournament was exactly what he was made for. Speed had been his entire life and this Grand Prix was the perfect outlet for it. He couldn't wait to get out their again and beat the stuffing out of the other competitors.

"Let's not overdo it now Sonic." Shadow said sharply, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Try to be a little more humble. You're going to end up with a lot of enemies very quickly if you humiliate your competition like that." Sonic blinked and looked over towards Team QuickStream, who by now was beginning to walk back into the Stadium interior to disappear from the tournament completely.

"Hey guys!" Sonic shouted over. Kane, Maxwell and David looked back. "Great race, you gave us a run for our money." The depressed look on their faces seemed to lessen.

"We'll beat you next time through." Kane added before they disappeared. Shadow nodded in approval of Sonic's kind gesture.

"That's better." The black hedgehog added.

Eggman had been watching the events from comfort and safety of his flying battleship, remaining out of the reach of any G.U.N forces. So Sonic could run fast, big deal. He was already quite aware of that. But just wait until his team got their opportunity to shine. Metal Knuckles, Tails Doll and Egg Robo were going to destroy the competition at this tournament.

"What a great opening race folks, and you can expect many more like that as the competition gets underway. Only another hour until the next race starts folks, so if any of you need a bathroom break, now is the time to go. You do not want to miss any of the action." Half the stadium began to shuffle out of their seats.

"Great race Sonic." Helen said as the blue hedgehog walked up to the side of the stands.

"Yeah it was wasn't it?" He said with a single hint of modesty. "But serious though, Amy I didn't actually think you could move that fast." He added, turning to look back at the pink hedgehog, who by now had removed her skates. She smiled at him.

"I can do a lot of things you don't know about." Amy winked, before disappearing. Sonic was left there with his mouth open, a distinct shade of red highlighting his cheeks.

* * *

Void was impressed. Speed like that was extremely rare, even amongst mobians. He could also sense a great deal of Chaos energy in and around this team Sonic. Now he was certain of it. These hedgehogs were his ticket out of Radiant Emerald once and for all.

"So this is the renowned Sonic the Hedgehog." He said to himself. "Quite impressive skill for a novice." He waved a cloven hand over the crystal and it clarified; the image of the stadium disappearing. This crystal dimension had held him for decades now and in that time he had mastered the secrets it hid, giving him near unrivalled power. The one thing he wanted to do with this tremendous power was always beyond his reach as long as he remained here.

He had to escape.

* * *

(In Chris voice)

The Emerald Grand Prix is off to a flying start, but can Team Chaotix compete in the treacherous Radical City Course? And who is this mysterious Void? Find out as the Sonic R Saga continues next time on Sonic X, Radical City Mayhem. Don't miss it!


	31. Episode 16, part 1

(I do not Sonic X, Sonic R etc… I do own Koji Naoko Okida and the fic itself.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO! GO! GO! GO! LET'S GO

Episode 16: Radical City Mayhem

Espio wasn't sure how Vector had managed it, but the crocodile had managed to obtain information that told them that they would be racing next and on the Radical city track. A day had passed since the Emerald Grand Prix had begun and many other racers had advanced and others eliminated from the competition. It was actually a relief to know they were next, preferring the knowledge to the uncertainty. In this tournament, all Chaotix had to do was to advance three rounds to make it to the semi finals for a real shot at winning that Chaos Emerald. Knowledge of the course' twists and turns was kept secret until the start of the race itself to ensure no one cheated by adapted their racing strategy before hand.

"We'll have to keep ourselves adaptable." Vector stated, tapping his foot. "Luckily we've been spared the torture of having to race Team Mecha or Team Sonic quite yet as they've already advanced." All participants in the grand Prix were given their own room in the stadium to stay while the others took to the tracks. Vector had already seen many teams loose on the Regal Ruin track, which was nearly impossible to traverse with it's near unlimited twists and turns. No one had raced on Radical City yet, so the crocodile realized that many of the other teams would be watching the race to see how they would traverse it. "I know this goes against everything we hold ourselves by, but each of us has to concentrate of winning that race, so resist the urge to look back to see how the others are getting on." Charmee and Espio exchanged glances. "We're still team mates and comrades, but we have to win this tournament at all costs."

"Understood." Espio replied. Charmee just nodded with an innocent look on his face. Vector seemed satisfied with the replies.

"Good." He added, before folding his arms behind his back. He didn't want them to see his disappointed face. Knowing that they were going to race next only allowed a short period of preparation time, what Vector really wanted to know was who they'd be racing.

"Team Chaotix?" Captain Okida repeated. "You're sure?" Rouge looked unimpressed.

"I'm a spy." She replied, crossing her legs. "It's my job to find out these things." As federal agents, not proper contestants Team Dead shot consisting of Bean the Dynamite Duck, Bark the Polar Bear and Captain of Freelance Division Koji Naoko Okida, were privileged enough to learn who their opponents in the tournament were before the actual races. That way they could concentrate their efforts on watching the tournament for the spy. They were sure Eggman's agent was present at the tournament, probably doing everything in its power to make sure Team Mecha won. Most of G.U.N was keeping their eyes on the robotic team, so they didn't have to worry about them too much. "Now, if you excuse me." The female bat announced, spreading her wings as she slowly tilted herself out the window. "I've places to be." She then disappeared out the window.

"Bean, any progress?" Their captain asked. The duck shook his head, looking up from his notes.

"Nothing. If that spies here, he's covered his tracks pretty well. I haven't found a single case of sabotage to the team that Eggman's robots humiliated in the last race." Team Mecha had been put against a Team from the north in the Reactive Factory course. Metal Knuckles had proved the fastest of them all, clearing the entire courses three laps in less than two minutes, leaving any competition in the dust.

"Bark?" Okida added. The polar bear simply shrugged, having even less information than Bean had. The vampire bat sighed. They certainly weren't making much in the way of progress. Looking at his wrist watch, he could see what they were due to race in an hour. The race itself was only a formality as far as he was concerned, whether they won or lost, their mission would continue regardless.

As Sam Speed crossed the finishing line, the race was over. The crowds cheered as the human stepped out of his race car, removing his helmet as Tails came in second.

"I wish we could skip all these and go straight to the semi finals. Maybe then I can get some real competition." Sam sighed. Their last opponents, while fast in their own right, were no match for the S-Team.

"Right about that pal." A voice from nearby stated. Sam looked up to see Sonic sitting on the top his race car. "Team Sonic'll wipe the floor with you."

"I wouldn't count your chickens until they're hatched Sonic." Tails commented as his own Tornado racer pulled to a stop. Sonic and the fox exchanged glances be for a smile broke out on their faces.

"Just because we're pals doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you." Tails simply nodded.

"Ditto." Team Mecha had been watching them from the top of the commenters box. They had been observing every race, analysing each and every racer, reading their movements and actions. With the data they absorbed, their understanding of a racers weakness' grew. They knew who was best at acceleration, stamina and sharp turning and who was the most skilled out of all the racers put together.

They had already deduced that Sonic and Shadow were by far the fastest competitors in this tournament, followed closely by Sam Speed and Metal Sonic. Metal Knuckles opened an internal com channel to the Egg Carrier 3. There was a brief moment of static before Eggman's face appeared on the screen that flipped up from a concealed panel on one of Metal Knuckles' bracers.

"Report." He said sharply.

"We have advanced in the Tournament, following your instructions; we also humbled our rivals by completing the three laps before they started their second." Metal Knuckles replied.

"I know." Eggman added with a narrowed eye. "I was watching the coverage on the sports channel. Very good work. If any of G.U.N's forces try to interfere with your races, let me know at once." The com link dissolved and the screen retracted back into Metal Knuckles' bracer.

"It's been an exciting few races and we're ready to start another one." The crowds had gathered again in the stadium heralding the start of another race. Metal Knuckles looked down to see another two teams entering the stadium's arena through the two large side doors. "And this one promises to be one heck of a scrabble for the finish line, as our teams will be competing on the fierce Radical City track. So give it up, for Team Chaotix and Team Dead shot." The crowds cheered as from opposites sides of the stadium, Chaotix lead by Vector and Team Dead shot lead by Captain Okida approached the starting line. "It's guaranteed to be an explosive race today, wouldn't you say Stuart?" Chris blinked and looked up towards the commentors box.

"Do doubt; no one has raced on the Radical City track yet so none of their members will know what to expect until they get out there." Both Chris and Helen recognised the voice alongside Scarlet Garcia's.

"Mr. Stuart?" They both exclaimed in surprise. Stuart had been appointed secondary commentor by the President after Team Mecha turned up. The Government wanted every spy they had to watch those robots closely. Up on the large screen, the first broadcast images of the Radical City course being shown, showing a mess of twists and turns through Station Square itself.

"Our racers will have to charge out of the stadium and straight down Main Street to begin with, but after that there are several alternate routes they can take. One of them even through the sewers, but how and where they race, is up to those competing. Over to you Scarlet."

"While the techs are running final safety checks, let's take a look at the team leaders on both sides." Images of Captain Okida and Vector appeared on the large screen opposite the tracks, their age, sex, species and various other bits of miscellaneous information typed next to them. Okida was a good three years older than Vector with a distinct advantage on speed since he could fly. "Vector has made it quite clear since signing up to the tournament, that he and his team will do everything in the race to win that Chaos Emerald. You've got to admire determination like that."

"Too true, but he's going to have to push himself and his team mates to compete with Captain Okida. He's the best pilot G.U.N presently has; trained to take advantage of any strategically gifts he may be given. And so far his two team mates Bean and Bark. It's determination against Government training. This race could go either way." The two team leaders approached each other, paused for a moment to size each other up before shaking hands.

"Good luck to you." Okida stated before they broke away and all six of them turned to face the track leading out across the large bridge towards the city. The final safety checks complete, the race was set to start. A startled expression suddenly broke over Charmee's face.

"Oh oh oh oh, WAIT!" He cried. Espio glance over to him.

"What is it now?" The bee looked his hand, biting his bottom lip as he screwed his face up.

"I've gotta go to the bathroom!" Vector and Espio stared at him, eyes wide.

"Well it's too late now. You'll just have to go after we finish the race."

"But I really gotta go!!" The bee added as the human who started the races approached the starting line with his two flags, one red and one green.

"Racers, on your marks." He began, raising his green flag. Okida crouched close to the ground, tensing his legs to push himself off from the ground, his wings ready to spread out and take to the air.

"The faster you finish the race, the quicker you get to go!" The vector snapped, before turning back towards the race. Charmee paused, considering the statement for a moment.

"And GO!" The green flag flew down and Charmee was away, flying across the bridge as fast as his wings would carry him becoming a black and yellow blur. Espio looked stunned.

"Wow, he really does have to go…" Vector didn't waste any time, launching himself across the course to catch up with Charmee. Okida's wings spread out and he took to the air, gliding through the air with intense speed, racing out of the stadium, Bean and Bark following, although Bark was quickly overtaken by Espio.

The bridge was a suspension bridge, the only link to Station Square itself. Charmee, so desperate to relieve himself was already half way across it by the time Okida made his bid for first place, Vector following closely behind him.

The bat found it actually hard to pass the little bee. He was moving so fast Okida found it nearly impossible to take first place from him. He was a regular speeding bullet. The streets of Station Square had been cleared for the race, but all along the sidewalks were thousands of people cheering them on. Helicopter with mounting camera filled the air above the building, trying to get a shot of the racers as they came off the bridge and into the course itself.

Bean and Espio were tied for fourth place. Neither one of them could run as fast as Sonic or other extreme mobians, but still they managed to keep a high speed duel between them, each on desperately trying to keep the other from going past them. Vector was pushing himself to keep up with Okida and Charmee, his short thing legs becoming a blur as he inched closer and close to the bat and bee. The Radical city course would stretch down the main street until they came to a divide in the road. This was the first option open to the competitors, whether to go right or left? There was a distinct possibility that one route led to a short cut and the other was the long way around.

At that precise moment, Charmee didn't care exactly which path he took as long as he finished the races three laps as quickly as he could. Zipping down the street, he took the path to the left while Okida soured to the right with Vector quickly following. Bean and Espio, still trying to pass each other followed Charmee down the left with Bark quickly following.

"The racers have reached the first divide of the track and it seemed most of them have taken the left route, leaving the two team captains along the right." Scarlet commented, looking over the video feed in front of her. "Let's just see which one of them emerges from that route first."

Charmee was so focused on getting to that bathroom break he was desperately promising himself; he didn't notice where he was going and rammed head first into a street lamp, loosing his first place position to Bean and Espio. The two sharing the position is a power struggle, desperately trying to out do each other. The left path curved down away from the high street towards the run down part of Station Square. Here the track splinted off into many others, creating endless possibilities for the routes, which were all marked with electric orange lights so that the racers wouldn't get lost.

Vector and Okida, now neck and neck with each other were still on the right path, heading up through the interweaving highway that ran through the city. This also had many routes to choose from, some heading over the roof tops. Okida took the highest path, hoping his airborne method of travel would give him an advantage up there, while Vector took the lower figuring he could go faster travelling down hill.

"And it looks to me like Vector's taking the sewer route." Stuart started as the monitor showed the crocodile turn and disappear following a track that ran down into an underground parking lot next to a large mall. "We'll just have to wait and see if that decision turns out to be a good one."

Espio had finally overtaken Bean, now in first place. Currently they were racing down an alleyway heading out onto a road that would take them back to the main street; from there it was a fifty yard pelt to the finish line to start the second lap. Just as the chameleon came out of the alleyway, Okida swooped down, gliding past him and stealing his first place position. Espio grunted and started running as fast as he could, trying to catch up. The captain simply angled his wings forward as his speed increased, approaching the second bridge back to the stadium.

Vector would never forgive him for letting him give the first lap away. Espio turned invisible and raced on. The bat looked back and discovered that the chameleon had disappeared. He slowed to see where he was and Espio overtook him, racing across the bridge and through the Stadium entrance. Okida looked stunned that he'd fallen for such a trick and he was even more surprised when Vector came charging out of a subway entrance, taking second place.

Hardly content with third, Okida soured after the two reptiles.

"Close race." Tails commented as Espio followed by Vector and Okida flew past the finish line to begin their second lap. A moment later, Bean, Charmee and Bark followed. "Okida seems to be the fastest of Team Dead Shot. And Espio the fastest of Chaotix. The others look like their capability for speed is ranged." He turned to look up at Sam. "Who do you think will win?" The human glanced momentarily up at the large screen showing the racers as they crossed the first bridge again and re-entered the city. By now, Okida had taken second place and was challenging Espio for first.

"It really doesn't matter to me who wins this race." Tails narrowed his eyes, a disapproving look on his face.

"Oh come on. We could be facing one of them in them semi-finals." Sam chuckled.

"There's only one person I really want to race against the in the finals." He replied, looking straight up at the blue hedgehog who was sitting on the top of the large screen, watching the race with his birds eye view. The blue hedgehog was pleased with how the race was turning out, Eggman however was not. It was getting a little too boring for his taste. What this race really needed was a little spicing up. "I think I need to make this race more challenging for them. "He said to himself as a large grinned crossed the doctors face. He sat up and pressed a button on his arm rest. Instantaneously, a small door on the underside of the Egg Carrier 3 opened and dozens of small robots, each probably no large than a soccer ball flew in a swarm directly towards the track, guiding by the Doctor himself.

Each one of those robots was a Miner unit. So called that went any moving target got within a few feet of them they detonated. They were round with spikes jutting out all over the place, an evil glaring red eye being their own means of an optical device. They flooded the course, becoming dangerous obstacles as the racers re-entered the course for the second lap. Okida nearly flew straight into one, beating his wings a few times as it hovered in his face.

Then it began shaking, a loud computerized voice counting down from five to one. The vampire bat hit the dirt as it exploded, nearly catching him the face. Seeing the danger, Espio tore several shuriken out of his gloves and cast them through the air, impacting several Miners causing them to detonate automatically, clearing the way for him to charge through.

"It seems that Doctor Eggman has left a few surprises on the track that even we didn't know about." Scarlet announced. "And even more spectacular of all, I'm being told that the officials are letting the race continue despite these developments. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the sleaziest attempt to raise national rattings I've ever seen!" Now this was better, Eggman thought to himself with a large grin. A little element of danger to the proceeding gave this far better entertainment value, and he was sure the station would appreciate it when thousands of viewers tuned in to see if the racers survived, let alone finished the three laps.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Vector

Age: 19

Species: Crocodile

Job description: Leader of the Chaotix detective agency.

(R&R)


	32. Episode 16, part 2

(I do not Sonic X, Sonic R etc… I do own Koji Naoko Okida and the fic itself.)

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Metal Knuckles

Age: Several days

Species: Robotic Echidna

Job description: The fastest and most powerful of Dr. Eggman's robots, created to race in the Emerald Grand Prix.

* * *

The second lap around Radical City proved to far more hazardous than the first one. Dr. Eggman's kamikaze robots were everywhere, making running at any intense speed very dangerous. But since the race officials decided to let this go and get on the with the race anyway, Team Chaotix and Team Dead shot had had to make do with their own resourcefulness to finish the race and stay alive in the process.

"Right, that does it!" Okida snarled, narrowly avoiding a fourth Miner that hurled itself at him. From his side he tore his revolver and fired several shots into the air, hitting the exploding robots in his path, clearing the way for him.

Vector came charging in, rolling to avoid an exploding machine before lashing out at another with his tail, batting it into the air where it collided with another and two of them detonated. The commotion had cleared the streets of the spectators, who had fled back to the stadium to get away from Eggman's robots. Once the race had been completed, G.U.N forces were on stand by to move in and assault the mobile bombs flying through the streets.

"According to the techs, we've got more people tuning in the last few minutes than we had in the last few hours. It seems Dr. Eggmna's done us a favour by spicing up the race."

"Speak for yourself!" Espio yelled at the loud speakers carrying Garcia's voice as the chameleon dodged several robots, trying to keep his first place position with exploding mobile robots in the air and Okida closing in from behind.

"Now that's what I call entertainment!" Egg declared, clapping as another of his robots exploded in Okida's face, sending the bat flying backwards a few feet in the air.

Undeterred by any interference Vector kept charging forward, passing Okida and stealing second place. The bat quickly realized that if he let these flying robots slow him down, he was going to loose the race, so after picking himself up he took to the air, firing a shot at any robot that got to close.

Instead of gliding, he beat his wings to force himself through the air with desperate ferocity as they tore down Main Street. Vector looked back to see the bat closing on him, grunted and then turned his attention back to the road. They were coming up on the first spilt in the path again.

Espio who was straining to maintain his first place position took the right road instead of the left this time, hoping it would provide him a short cut that he had been denied in the first lap. Vector, seeing his comrade's choice went down the left. Okida took the right again, knowing the high roof top track would greatly benefit him. Bean, bark and Charmee taking separate routes down the tracks and sensing their movement, the miners about faced and began following them like a swarm of detonating insects.

This time it was Espio who took the sewer route while Vector took the on the upper terrain. The chameleon found that it was not as dark inside these tunnels as he would have believed. The orange markers told him were to go as they directed him through the underground parking lot towards the subway entrance.

All the trains had been shut down for the duration of the tournament so Espio was free to tear through the twisting tunnels, hoping he emerged in first place. Charmee had caught up with Vector and the two of them were neck and neck in second place with Okida just in front.

Bean and Bark who had been the only two to take the other route had slackened, hardly able to keep the exertion up. They were not racers, only good fighters and agents. It was up to their captain to win the race now.

"It looks like the rest of Team Dead shot have called it quits." Stuart commented. "But their team captain is still going strong. This race is still up the air." Espio finally caught sight of the light leading up from a subway station and tore up the stairs towards the surface.

Okida's logical evaluation of the track had served him well as he took first place again, souring across the track unchallenged. By the time Vector and Espio caught up with him he was already re-entering the stadium to begin his final lap of the course. The two reptiles didn't have time to catch up, already the warm of robots Eggman had infested the course with where flying down the street behind them, intending to ram into their backs and then detonate themselves.

"Ok, now that's totally unfair." Sonic muttered, before leaping down from the top of the large screen and tearing down the course towards the city, a ring in his hand, it's glow sending pure yellow light radiating from the gaps between his fingers. The blue hedgehog shot past Vector and Espio who was desperately trying to reach the finish line without being killed and as he did so, tore into a super spin. His entire body lanced through the swarm, starting a chain reaction of explosions that detonated them all at once. The blue hedgehog slid to a stop as flaming wreckage of robots started raining around him.

Eggman, who had been watching everything on several large screens, several showing sports channels and others from his own concealed surveillance robots. His eyebrows narrowed as Sonic spotted one of the floating orbs cowering behind a trash can, did a cliché cool pose in front of it before shooting off.

"Blasted rodent has to spoil all my fun." He said with a loud grunt, drumming his fingers. "Well then, if he insists on ruining my day, then I'll just have to ruin his!" Sonic was racing back to the stadium when a dark shadow bolted out the sun above him. Looking back over his shoulder, Sonic caught sight of the Egg Carrier 3 closing in on his position, staying a good distance away though. Several of Eggman's remote fighter planes soured from the deck of the giant flying battleship, their targeting crosshairs already had the blue hedgehog locked in.

"Can't take a joke can you?" Sonic muttered, racing forward across the bridge, but doubled back half way across, charging straight at them. The planes came in low and that made it easy for the blue hedgehog to slice his way through them one at a time, using the falling wreckage as platforms he leapt up to the top of the bridge. The Egg Carrier 3 was floating above, still keeping out of G.U.N fire range, which was some distance away but the battleship's immense size still blocking out the sun. "Ok Eggman, Let's keep it civil huh?" In reply, a holographic representation of the Doctor's face appeared in the sky just above him.

"State your proposal hedgehog." He replied sharply. Sonic smirked.

"Well, you seem pretty confident that your Team Mecha will win the tournament." A large smile crossed Eggman's face.

"In designed them to be unstoppable in speed. Not even you or Shadow would be able to seriously compete with them." The blue hedgehog crossed his arms.

"If you're that confident, let's see if you're up to a bet." Eggman suddenly looked very suspicious. "You stop interfering in the races and I'll get to racing your prized team. Let us compete fair and square." Eggman sneered.

"Fine. I'll not interfere in any or your or my own teams races. Until then however, I'll continue to make the other competitions a little more interesting." His face disappeared, shimmering like ripples on a pond and the giant battleship from which the image had been projected began to fly away heading towards the sun set. Sonic put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

"Thought so." He added, rolling his eyes.

With the robots off their tail and Dr. Eggman's attention diverted away from the race, Vector and Espio were able to concentrate on their speed, closing the distance between them and Okida, who by now was nearly across the second bridge at the start of his final lap.

The crowds cheered as the two of them shot through the stadium, desperately trying to catch up with the bat.

"It's the final lap, and all those competing look desperate to finish the race first." Scarlet put in as they flew out of the Stadium. "It's coming down to the wire people and we have to have a photo finish if it remains this close." Okida looked back to see how his competition were doing. They were closer than he would like but it really didn't matter. Now that the track was free of those annoying exploding robots, he was fully exert himself. His wings stretched out wing as he soured forward, taking the high route again as the two reptiles took the lower.

By now, they had most of the tracks many routes memorized and nearly instinctively the two of them choose the path they thought was the fastest, really pushing themselves. They could not afford to loose his race. The final lap of the course seemed to slow down, taking it seemed longer for any of them to complete it than before.

By the time any of them neared the finishing line, Okida was still in the lead with the two Chaotix members just behind him. Nearing the line that marked his victory, Okida was certain that this race was in the bag.

What he didn't count on however was a small black and yellow insect with a desperate need to relieve himself shooting past him at blinding speed. The bat looked to his side just in time to see Charmee soured past him at a speed he couldn't hope to travel at.

Okida just looked stunned the bee flew across the finish line before he did, ending the race. Chaotix had advantaged to the next round and Team Dead shot had been eliminated from the tournament. A slow motion recording of the event was being played on the large screen at the stadium for those who did not believe what had just happened.

The vampire bat simply dropped to the ground, face agape in disbelief. He'd been only moments away from winning when a seven year old bee had shot past him. It took a moment for the crowd to absorb the situation before they started cheering, their cries echoing for miles around.

"Astonishing! Young Charmee Bee has crossed the finishing line first, meaning Chaotix is through and Dead Shot is eliminated. What an incredible last minute turn around!" Stuart declared as the other Chaotix members reached the finishing line, trying to figure out what they'd just missed. When they saw the instant replay of their friend crossing the finishing line and heard the cheers of the crowd they put two and two together and got four.

"He didn't…" Vector began, looking Espio square in the face, who looking as stunned as his crocodilian team captain. Finally the reality set in and Vector actually realized that they'd won. "Alright he did, Charmee I could kiss you!" Vector declared, punching the air as he jumped into the air. "Charmee?" he began, finally noticing the one who won them the race had completely disappeared after the race ended. "Espio where did he go?" The chameleon shrugged. There was a loud flushing sound all of a sudden and then they spotted their comrade coming out of the men's room with a wide smile on his face.

"Smooth Captain." Bean remarked sarcastically as the bat approached them, an annoyed look on his face. "We lost to a kid, in front of five thousand people." Bark put a large gloved hand over his eyes.

"That goes way beyond embarrassment. We'll never be able to show our faces in public again for the next two years." Okida gave them both a long hard stare before taking up his drape from the table were he'd left it, wrapping it back around his shoulders.

"Forget about it. We weren't trying to win anyway." He gave a final glance back towards Chaotix, who by now were tossing Charmee up into the air and dancing at an ecstatic pace. "They were the serious ones, they deserved to win. We're just here for securities sake." He winced, a muscle tensed where he'd caught an explosion from one of Dr. Eggman's robots. "Speaking of which, the President'll kill us if we don't make this tournament secure against that madman."

"Well that's them by on their dumb luck again." Sam remarked, before turning his back on them.

* * *

Neither Sonic nor Amy had observed the stunning outcome of the race as both of the hedgehogs were sitting on the beach of the currently empty Resort Island course. At first, Sonic had tried to stay as far away from the water as much as he could, but eventually Amy managed to coax him inch by inch towards it. Now he was sitting up on the sand with the gentle waves lapping around his feet. This was about as close to the ocean he was willing to get.

Sonic was nearly seventeen and he hadn't had a single swimming lesson. He even avoided baths if he could manage it, that is until Amy forced him in when he began to reek. Despite this one important factor in his life, Amy had never taken the time to ask why. There had to be a reason he didn't like the water.

She asked him then and there and after a hesitating brief moment of silence, he replied that he just didn't like it, hoping to leave it at that. Unfortunately for him, Amy was not the 'leave it' sort of girl. She knew that some people just had illogical fears that they couldn't explain, but she could read Sonic like a book. There was much more to it than that.

She began prodding again, hoping the blue hedgehog's bubble of stubbornness would pop. Sonic tried to drive conversation else ware, but he failed and eventually he gave up.

"I've never liked the water." He replied, staring out across the bay. Most people would have seen the winter sun's light reflecting off the surface in some dramatic display of nature. Sonic didn't see that. All he saw was a deadly abyss were people could drown. "I don't remember what happened exactly, I was only a kid, all I can recall is a few instances of thunder and lightning and rolling waves." He added, narrowing his eyes against the light. "I must have been on a boat that sank or something. But ever since then the mere thought of stepping water terrifies me." The blue hedgehog turned to give the pink one a side glance. "Happy now?" She only smiled and laid herself down next to him.

"Remember anything more?"

"Nah." He replied, yawning. "I remember waking up in some bush on the edge of a beach, but much after that is a complete blank until I got a little older." Amy hesitated briefly.

"And you never actually tried to find out what happened?" Sonic sighed, putting his arms behind his head.

"Well, I did at first, but it was about then that Eggman turned up and I got a little distracted." Amy paused.,

"I remember that." She said hesitantly. "I was only ten at the time. Everyone thought Eggman was the most silly looking creature they'd ever seen. No one on Mobius had ever seen a human before." There was a stinging irony in that statement that was lost on neither of them. "I remember reading about the first battle between you and Eggman in the news." Sonic thought back to the first time he and his arch nemesis had met. Sonic himself had only been little older than ten when the first robots of the Eggman Empire charged through a large glade, laser fire filling the air. Eggman himself was leading them, directing his forces as they burnt through the foliage, driving mobians out of their homes.

Sonic had never acted heroically before, but seeing that sort of flipped some override switch inside him and he acted without thinking, using his super speed to cut through the early robots with ease. "And if memory serves, I met you not long after." Shortly after that historic encounter and after he had joined up with Tails, Sonic remember that he and his old friend had been test piloting one of his early planes when they spotted one of Dr. Eggman's robots down on the beach of an island they were flying over. It was attacking a pink girl hedgehog, who was dwarfed by the robots sheer size. Sonic had prepared to jump in to help her, but it soon became obvious that the girl didn't need their assistance when the pink hedgehog revealed her nearly legendary hammer and smashed the robot into small pieces.

Sonic would have left things at that, but just then another two mechanical soldiers appeared from the island's interior and that was when he charged in. Seeing him in action, Amy had been determined to win his affection ever since. She couldn't help noticing that lately, she was making good headway. She had been in Sonic's company over ten minutes and he hadn't run away.

Metal Knuckles had been watching the two hedgehogs from the road running alongside the top of the beach. Pathetic organics, to wrapped up in their own ridiculous emotions to fight properly, which is what gave Dr. Eggman and his robotic creations the edge. They didn't get distracted by needless emotions, they were focused and dedication. There was a loud footstep from behind him and the metal Echidna turned to see who was standing his presence. It was Metal Sonic. The robot who had first tire to overthrow Eggman from the seat of his empire, trying to take power for himself and then threw it all away to be one of that pathetic hedgehog's friends. This defective unit had to be terminated as soon as possible.

Neither of them said anything to each other as the robot Echidna closed the gap between them, fixed Metal with his own stelly glance, before walking on past him. Metal Sonic could see now what Metal Knuckles really was. His prime directive was not to win this tournament. It was to destroy all the robots that had ever disobeyed Dr. Eggman's orders.

* * *

(In Chris Voice)

The semi finals are approaching and there's just one last race to go before they begin. The carnage begins as Team Mecha finally takes to the race track and their opponents don't have a chance, or does a last minute appearance of an Echidna we all know as love save them from defeat? Find out next time on Sonic X, The Regal Ruin. Don't miss it!

(R&R)


	33. Episode 17, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

Episode 17: The Regal Ruin 

Knuckles had been doing a lot of thinking; there wasn't much else to do. Ever since he had visited the ancient past and seen the destruction of his people, powerless to stop it, his determination and dedication to his duty of guardianship had slackened. He found himself straying from the Master Emerald to explore the island more, took longer hours training himself and he also found himself taking a great deal of aggression out on a pine tree that really didn't deserve it. He was depressed and the large green jewel could sense that. Knuckles had always held on to some childish belief that, despite the wrath of Perfect Chaos, the Echidna people were still alive somewhere, in some remote corner of the world and that one day they would return. He knew deep down that it wasn't likely, but it was that little piece of hope that kept him going really. Seeing them completely destroyed had weakened his spirit. Their own fanatical devotion to a god of war driving them to extinction, the vengeance of a demon.

Now, with finality he realized something that he had known all along, that he was the last living Echidna. All the others were dead now. He was the last of his kind and with the realization of that one fact, came a loneliness Knuckles had never felt before. He had grown up on this island, safe in the warm glow of the Master Emerald. He had couldn't remember what his parents looked like or the sound of their voices. The Master Emerald had been his entire life and yet now, it seemed like a trivial burden he would much rather not be handed.

The Red Echidna looked up towards the top of the shrine and the steady green glow emitting from it. After Perfect Chaos had been sealed inside it, the Master Emerald levitated the land around it into the sky to make sure that no earth bound power would ever try to use its power for conquest again. Knuckles suspected that the jewel itself summoned his ancestors to Angel Island to act as its protectors, so that they might find redemption for their sins.

He was the last in a long line of Guardians that had sold their lives to make up for the horrible mistakes of an ancient people. Their debt would be paid with his death and their sins would finally be forgiven. The red Echidna sat there on the bottom step of the shrine thinking everything over. For the first time, 'THE' first time, Knuckles desperately wanted someone to talk to.

His gaze was drawn upward again when he felt a presence besides that of the Master Emerald. Sitting on the steps a little higher up was a white bat with emerald green eyes. If given any other mood, Knuckles would probably have started bellowing at Rouge for trespassing on his island again but at the moment he just didn't feel up to it. Rouge didn't say anything. She just sat there, staring at him and he met her gaze.

The Master Emerald had been observing them and began to understand. Its guardian was lonely because he believed himself the last of the Echidna race and thus began to wander. Want he really wanted was a kindred sprit to be with and while Rouge, who had stolen itself once before, was not the first person it would choose it seemed like the two of them were already quite attuned to each other.

Slowly Knuckles picked himself up and turned to face her completely. Instead of yelling at her, like she'd first expected he simply walked up and sat down next to her. There was another long, prolonged moment of silence between them and all Rouge did was fix him with a long side glance. Was this the same pig headed Echidna who loved his own company?

"I suppose the President sent you up here for something?" He asked trying not to show any emotion. All Rouge noticed was that there wasn't a single hint of aggression or frustration in his voice. She shook her head, narrowing her eyes in his traditional seductive gaze.

"I don't really need his permission to come up here you know." She was half expecting him to tell her that it was his permission she needed, but instead all the Echidna did was chuckle and lean back against the large stone steps. Rouge was beginning to think that someone had replaced her favourite toy with a clone. "Why the sudden mood swing Knucklehead? I thought you hated having people on your island." She added, coming right out and stating the question that had been dogging her or the lat couple of moments. The Echidna paused briefly before putting his large gloved hands behind his head and started staring up at the sky. It was approaching twilight, the sky darkening as the clouds gained a thick golden glow.

"I suppose I should." He began slowly. "But it's just the same old routine that's getting old." A wide smirk crossed the bat's face.

"You're not thinking of leaving the Master Emerald are you? How will it defend itself from Treasure Hunters?" She paused before adding... "Like me?" Knuckles gave her a long glare.

"Leave the Master Emerald? No, I wouldn't do that. It's been the only thing I've known since I was little older than three." The glow of the Master Emerald's radiating green light increased, as if it was thanking it's guardian for his concern. "I guess I'm just getting tired on standing on his island day after day with little else to do." Rouge could tell that wasn't true. Knuckles loved his isolation and solitude, company was never welcomed. The Echidna was such a predictable person, so much so that Rouge could tell that something else was wrong when he broke routine.

"It's that whole Perfect Chaos thing isn't it?" She asked. Knuckles remained silent, refusing to answer the question. "You saw it destroy your people. That's what's bothering you isn't it?" The red Echidna sighed and sat up, staring off in some point in space, remembering the precise moment when he'd seen the water like tentacles tear through the streets, huge geysers swallowing Echidna men, women and children alike. Entire family disappearing into the raging flood waters, their screams echoing across the night as Chaos tore them all apart.

"I'm fine really." He said, realizing that he had left the prolonged silence drag on a little longer than he'd intended. He did not sound very convincing.

"Knuckles, that kind of thing would leave physiological scars the size of the grand canyon on even the most battle hardened veterans." She said eying him suspiciously. "Sure you don't want to talk about it?" Again she was meet with a sudden silence. Now this was more like the Knuckles she was used to. Whenever it came to talking about personal feelings, he could clam up like a ouster, stubbornly refusing to speak like a sulking toddler if it suited him and since he wasn't going to help himself, she was just going to have to do it for him. "Come on, you're coming with me." She stated, her tone refusing to give room for argue as he grasped onto the Echidna's arm, tugging him to his feet. Knuckles looked stunned as he forcefully pulled him away from the shrine.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He demanded, digging his heals into the ground. The bat suddenly showed surprising strength overpowering his resistance.

"You need to get out amongst people for a while." She stated, pausing just long enough to give him a tight glare. "There's a racing tournament going on at the moment, and taking part will do you some good."

"Say what? Have you gone nuts. I can't leave the Island!" She sighed angrily.

"Don't tell me your loyalty to the big jewel is that strong?" Knuckles only replied in a long hard affirming stare. She matched his glare, before smiling smugly. "Oh I'm sure it'll let you have the day off." The bat looked up towards the giant emerald sitting atop the shrine. "Won't you?" In reply, the Emerald's glow pulsated. "Good." Knuckles looked completely stunned that she had understood the Emerald's reply, let alone that it had agreed with her. His entire mind stunned in paralysis, he didn't even notice Rouge tug him inch by inch away from the Master Emerald.

* * *

"It's another exciting day of racing." Scarlet' Garcia' voice announced over the loud speakers hidden throughout the Regal Ruin Track. The snow had returned and the track itself was now covered in a thin layer of white. It had gotten so cold that some of the water obstacles around the course had frozen as well. Days of tough competition had passed and various races had come and gone now and only one was left before the Semi finals began. Whoever won this last race would determine who went on to face Team Sonic, S-Team and Team Chaotix for the grand prize, the priceless Chaos Emerald. 

Christmas was only a few weeks away now, with the consumer period reaching its peek and souvenirs being sold throughout the length of the tournament completely sold out. The profitability of this competition had proved to far exceed even the Presidents wildest expectation, and he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place. With the kind of cash the Government and the tournament's various sponsors were racking in the defence budget could be expanded ten fold.

As expected, Dr. Eggman had been interfering with various races, laying the occasional trap here and there to try and trip up some unwary racers. He had never directly interfered with the racers of his own team, which lead some to think he was only doing this for his own amusement.

The Regal Ruin track stretched through a set of old ruins that stood on the coast some distance from the Stadium, one of the bridges leading out of the island would take the racers nearly directly to it. Only a few teams had competed on it so far and they were still trying to remove all of Eggman's traps and exploding robots. The race had been delayed for a few hours until they were sure it was safe. It was nearly mid day when the race officials declare the course finally safe.

After Team Dead Shot lost, rather humiliatingly in the first round, Captain Okida had taken up the task of trying to make sure the Doctor stayed out of the races, which it seemed was a loosing battle. With his Egg Carrier 3, the-would-be-dictator could launch his little surprises without much interference. The Race officials weren't exactly leaning on him to get the job done either. The added danger to the tracks seemed to rake in more ratings than they could count.

So far, little progress had been made in routing out the spy that they had been so sure would try something at this tournament. Okidas began to think that perhaps his own investigations might prove more fruitful than the official Government one.

"Hey yo!" A voice from behind him stated and the bat turned to see Sonic walk up behind him. Now standing side by side, it was revealed that Okida was a good head and shoulder taller than the average mobian, rivalling Vector in height. "Well Captain, we meet again." The bat and the hedgehog had occasionally fought beside one another against the Eggman Empire on Mobius. "I though that if you got sent here, you'd end up joining G.U.N. You've got that militaristic mind." The bat grinned.

"The minute after Chaos Control sent me here; I could see that you'd already made quite a name for yourself already." Sonic shrugged and stood beside the captain. The two of them were standing on the edge of the road that ran down to the Regal Ruin track. Okida had been overseeing the removal of Dr. Eggman's little toys since the early morning.

"Too bad about that lost race." Sonic added; looking up as several trucks came up the road away from the course, all filled to the top with the shattered remains of robots and various explosives. "But then, you were more of a fighter than a racer." The bat blinked once, before nodding. He was fast in the air, true, but the real realm of speed belonged to Sonic.

"Good luck in the Semi-Finals Sonic." He said casually before walking off to check on the last few trucks heading out from the track.

"Who needs luck?" Sonic asked himself. The bat looked back with a wide smile on his face, before his leathery wings spread out and he soured into the air.

"I wouldn't take that Team Mecha too lightly." He added, before disappearing in a cluster of flaps.

Team Mecha, Dr. Eggman's race team had already arrived in the stadium for the last race before the semi finals. If they won this, they would advance for a real chance of humiliating Sonic like Dr. Eggman wanted and retrieving the Chaos Emerald for him. They had dominated their races, making their competition seem as slow as snails. Nearly everyone was terrified of them, especially their leader, the intimidating Metal Knuckles. He had the iron glad power, determination and ruthlessness that the old Metal Sonic had had. He was also just as fast, and probably just as strong to.

Tails Doll, with its strange almost comic like appearance lured the unwary into thinking it was a harmless piece of sewn together fabric, when really it was just as ruthless and nearly as fast as Metal Knuckles. EggRobot, the robot constructed in Eggman's own image was skilled in neither power nor speed. Instead, it used it's powerfully enhanced electronic brain to out think its opponents. Its intellect greatly surpassed that of its two team mates.

"It's the last race before the Semi finals, and Team Mecha has already arrived to begin." Stuart added, as the crowds took their places. Most of them were wearing thick coats as the weather was turning colder. "But before their opponents from Canada, Team Silver turn up, we'd like to announce an unexpected alteration to today's race." Metal Knuckles looked towards the commentors box, that last statement grabbing its interest.

"Do you suppose something's wrong?" Cream asked. Emerl simply shrugged his shoulders. "You don't think they'll cancel the race do you?"

"Nah, no chance of that." Rouge told them. The female bat was sitting in the row behind them. "They're just delaying so the dramatic impact can be absorbed by the crowd." She added with a smug grin. Amy blinked, narrowing an eye.

"Do you know what going on Rouge?" The female bat leaned back in her chair.

"Just you wait and see." There was aloud swishing sound and Sonic slid to a stop just next to their seats, nearly skidding on the sleet. They had gritted the track, but forgotten to grit the other walkways.

"I miss anything?" He asked, taking up the only empty seat next to Chuck, who still had his giant foam hand.

"It looks like something's wrong with that opposing team." Chris explained, leaning over to get within ear shot.

"It seems there was a last minute chance to the team members." Scarlet announced, reading of the card she was given. "That may seem unfair, but according to the rules of the tournament, it's allowed." She turned to Stuart. "Who do you think they'd substituted a member for?" The former teacher/spy shrugged.

"Don't have a clue. But it would have to be someone worth it if they want to make any headway against Team Mecha, who so far has dominated the tournament." Suddenly, a loud whistle was blown and Team Silver began to walk out of the Stadium entrance towards the starting line and Team Mecha itself. First out was the Team Captain, a reptile with snow white scales, short snout and flaxen yellow eyes. His name was Swift and he had been the one to lead his team to victory through the other races Silver had triumphed in.

The second was a human motorcyclist, blue flames painted all over his swift looking vehicle, his head obscured from view by a helmet. Team Silver's logo, a silver arrow was sewn onto his shoulder pad. The third one to walk out there managed to produce a stunned gasp from the crowd, who recognised him at once. Sonic had been drinking out of the orange soda drink Amy had offered him when he spotted him on the stadium floor and nearly chocked on it.

An Echidna with violet eyes and long arms, short red fur over his entire body, a pair of deadly looking spurs on each hand and a long nose. He was by no means as famous as Sonic, but he was still a major house hold name anyway. The entire crowd burst out in cheers ands whistles.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing." Stuart nearly cried into the microphone. "It's Knuckles the Echidna!" Metal Knuckles gaze was drawn at once to his organic double.

"Rouge told me about you." Knuckles stated, walking slowly over to the robotic Echidna before standing still directly in front of it. The two of them were exactly the same height and width, nearly complete copies of each other. "Sonic might be able to live with a robotic fraud running around, but I'm not as tolerant as he is."

"There's not a lot you can do." Metal Knuckles replied, speaking for the first time during the entire tournament. _"Compared to me, you are obsolete."_ Knuckles produced a large grin.

Metal Knuckles replied, speaking for the first time during the entire tournament. Knuckles produced a large grin. 

"We'll see about that." He announced slowly, a hint of venom creeping into his voice before he and the other members of Team Silver took up positions on the starting line.

"How the hell did you get Knuckles to enter?" Sonic asked Rouge, who by now had all eyes on her. She simply laughed in reply. As soon as Knuckles had been told that Eggman had created a robotic version of the Echidna, Knuckles couldn't have been held back from entering. "And just who is guarding the Master Emerald if he's here?" "Don't worry about that, G.U.N has it covered." She replied. At this very moment, Three large combat walkers belong to G.U.N's elite was stationed around the shrine. Along with a satellite monitoring system to ensure the giant jewel was not stolen.

"What a treat we have here today people. Knuckles the Echidna, made famous the world over is now competing on behalf of Team Silver. It's just one surprise after another here."

"And now let's introduce the course they'll be racing on today." Again the large screen flipped over to show a map of the Regal Ruin track. A treacherous track that ran through the many twists and turns of an ancient ruin, interweaving though a cliff face before leading itself right back to the stadium. This track was even more difficult than Radical City, and Team Mecha had raced on it before. Knuckles knew that he was at distinct disadvantage here, but nothing was going to stop him from beating this fake Echidna and proved to both himself and Dr. Eggman that there was nothing like the real thing.

Dr. Eggman himself had been watching the events unfold on the sports coverage. The last thing he would have expected was for the Guardian of the Master Emerald to show up here, especially now. Well, if Knuckles wanted to see who was superior, him or Eggman's precious Metal Knuckles then the Doctor was more than happy to let the two of them race to see who proved victorious.

"Racers, to your starting positions." The call went out and the six of them approached the starting line. This direction was posting out across the bridge. Once across they'd half to take the path to the right, race along a cliff side road before into the main track interior.

Knuckles and Metal Knuckles exchanged one last glare, that shouted the message (_I'm going to chew up and spit you out)_ before turning back to the race.

"And GO!"

* * *

Flip Card 1: 

Name: Knuckles the Echidna

Age: 17

Sex: Male

Species: Echidna (duh)

Job description: The guardian of Angel Island and Master Emerald that keeps it flying in the sky.

(R&R)


	34. Episode 17, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

* * *

Flip Card 2

Name: Rouge

Age: 18

Sex: Female

Species: Fruit bat

Job description: Professional spy for the Government funded military Organisation, G.U.N.

Knuckles was the first to take the lead as they began their race across the bridge, competing furiously with his Metal double for the position. Swift coming in second with Tails Doll and the human from Team Silver behind them, Egg Robo bringing up the rear. The two Echidna's one organic and the other robotic were neck and neck as the bridge ended as they started off on the cliff path. From here, the helicopter could see the six racers fly along the narrow path that curved down towards the course itself, a large collection of ruins on the coast not to far away.

Metal Knuckles shoved the Red Echidna aside with one of his bracers, taking first place, slowing the Echidna down by a few seconds. Collecting himself, Knuckles poured on more speed, catching up with the robotic Echidna as the course curved down towards the ruins.

Tails Doll suddenly revealed its true nature, showing near impossible speed as it overtook the Lizard Swift. Swift however wasn't a complete push over. His long bipedal legs did more than frame his hips. With long strides he managed to catch up by the nano-powered toy.

"And they've cleared the cliff face and are now heading down into the track interior." Stuart announced as Knuckles and his double, still fighting for first place flew through an ancient stone gate that marked the entrance of the course. Spectators had gathered there to cheer them on as well, nearly five hundred people had squatted themselves into stands which could barley contain them.

"You're not going to win!" Metal Knuckles told the Red Echidna as the two of them were running side by side, hostility in their eyes. Knuckles simply smirked and tore on ahead, rounding a corner quickly and up towards an ancient stone ramp leading into the interior of a large crumbling courtyard covered in ivy. Metal Knuckles snarled and shot after him, fully intending to rip him apart with his claws as soon as the race was over.

Swift and Tails Doll were the next to shoot past the gate, each desperately trying to outdo the other. Team Silver was overall a lot faster than they had anticipated. Egg Robo could see that, and was already working on sufficient strategies to outdo them. His large round head turned when his sensors picked up an opening just ahead, it was a division through the course. According to the rules, there were numerous different courses through the entire track and any could be used during any lap. If his sensors were right, then this was a short cut. His small metal foot slammed into the ground and he spun an entire ninety degrees to face his left, tearing through the opening.

"Come on Knuckles, you aren't going to let some robotic clone freak beat you are you?!" Sonic cried up at the screen.

"Excuse me?" The blue hedgehog looked down to see Metal Sonic standing on the ground next to the stands.

The interweaving track stretched between towering ruins, ancient pillars covered in moss and vines and large expanses of water which had sunken beneath the water. Most of them, due to the recent cold weather had completely frozen over. His provided shortcuts for the races across huge expanses of water that otherwise would have impeded progress. The track had been gritted, but the heavy falling snow that began to drift down when the racers approached the end of their first lap made traversing the track more difficult.

By now, Metal Knuckles had taken first place again and Knuckles had fallen back to fight Tails Doll for second. Egg Robo, thanks to his advanced strategic thinking had managed to put himself in fourth place, leaving the two remaining members of Team Silver in fifth and sixth. The end of the course around the ruins lead out across another road and back towards the bridge and Stadium. The crowds looked dismayed when Metal Knuckles emerged from the ruins first, shooting down the road heading for the finish line to begin his second lap, Knuckles himself following almost an instant after. Tails Doll's surprising speed was serving it well as it dogged Knuckles' heals.

The racers shot across the bridge and into the stadium, the crowds cheers in their ears before the second lap began and they did a U turn right back towards the track. Even Eggman didn't know that Tails Doll had limitations. He had been racing so hard during this and every other race he'd been in that the experimental nano technology that the Doctor had used to create him, at that point when he reached the finishing line, overheated. All the microscopic robots simultaneously shut down and Tails Doll twitched violently before it collapsed to the ground, smoking rising from his smouldering corpse. The red jewel that powered the nano bots lost its glow and fell loosely from the toy's now immobile body.

Eggman was left staring open mouthed as one of his prized robots collapsed under exhaustion. Tails Doll had been one of his best robots and now he was ruined, he had to retrieve and repair him at once. A tractor beam lanced out from the Egg Carrier 3 and latched onto Tails' Doll's remains, pulling them back through the air towards his battleship that hovered in the distance.

"Oh what a shame." Scarlet remarked sarcastically. "One of Dr. Eggman's robots had packed itself in. Does this spell disaster for Team Mecha? What do you think Stuart?"

"Not necessarily Scarlet." Stuart Replied. "All Teams advancing to the Semi finals need is one racer to compete, so if Team Mecha win, they go through anyway, although it does add a significant advantage to Team Silver."

The remaining five racers had cleared the stadium again and were now half way across the bridge for the second lap. Metal Knuckles had been enraged by his team mates failing and was viciously trying to shake Knuckles off but the Red Echidna was having none of it, pushing forward relentless, beads of perspirations running off his face.

Entering the ruins, Swift and his human companion began challenging Egg Robo for his position. Direct attacks on the competition were not allowed, efforts to slow them down however were not against the rules. Egg Robo tore out his laser pistol, and fired at a column of ancient stone he had just flown past. There was loud crash as it collapsed, forming a blockage across the track, leaving Swift and his friend no alternative but to take the long route.

"That's set those guys back by half a lap." Amy commented, watching everything unfold on the large screen at the top of the stadium. "It looks like it's up to Knuckles to win it now." Metal Knuckles turned, rounding a corner and as he did so, he held his claws out, slicing a stone pillar as he ran, shattering its foundations. Knuckles saw the falling masonry and smirked, folding a fist ready. As the pillar fell towards him, the Echidna smashed one of his world famous punches straight into it, sending pieces of rubble flying into the air.

Metal Knuckles looked even angrier to see that it had failed to stop his pursuer. Eggman had ordered him not to loose any races, and this was not about to be his first. Trying to put as much distance between himself and Knuckles as possible, the robotic Echidna began toppling as many structures as he could. Knuckles was able to either dodge to smash his way through all of them and all it did was slow Egg Robo down, who had to climb over and around collapsed piles of rubble just to get anywhere. Now Metal Knuckles and Knuckles himself were way in front of the others as they neared the final edge of the ruins and the road that would lead them back towards the Stadium. By the time they reached the road, Knuckles had tied himself with Metal Knuckles and the two of them were running side by side, fighting each other trying to outdo the other. Knuckles was handed a piece of luck when Metal Knuckles' internal engine hiccupped and the robot slowed down a little, leaving the Echidna to rocket forward, putting some significant distance between them.

"Go Knuckles; come on, only one more lap!" Tails shouted as Knuckles tore through the stadium towards the U-turn, the third and final lap waiting for him. Metal Knuckles decided that apparently he was going to have to give it his all to compete from here on in. his rocket engine accelerated to one hundred percent and the robotic echidna was given a tremendous boost of speed, clearing the U-turn and catching up with his organic counterpart. Knuckles had seen him come and was ready for him, placing his body just in front of the robots path, impeding his progress. Metal Knuckles could not maintain that speed for long, his engines overheated too quickly and it took another five minutes for them to cool down again.

The others had only just reached the stadium by now, so it became clear that the race was now being fought over between the two in front. They were almost neck and neck as they crossed the bridge and shot along the cliff side path. The early pillars that Metal Knuckles had knocked over forced the two of them to take the longer way through the ruins. The crowds were on the edge of their seats as the two rocketed under collapsing pillars, across frozen waterways and up steep ramps to the roads above.

"Come on…" Sonic muttered biting the edge of his lip as the two racers disappeared as they raced through a narrow path between two large pillars. The choppers were trying to fly in closer, but the sheer cliff face on one side and the bad weather picking up around them prevented the cameras from getting a better shot. They just had to wait. There was a moment of silence, before the crowds cheered as Knuckles came flying out onto the road first, Metal Knuckles right on his tail.

"The two were closing towards the bridge now, and by the looks of it, it may be a photo finish!" Metal Knuckles gained more ground, closing in on the real Echidna as the two neared the entrance to the stadium. The race could have gone either way, that is until Metal Knuckles gained equal ground with Knuckles and as he did so his eyes flashed open and a flare of bright light shot out from them, blinding the Echidna. Knuckles stopped holding his gloves over his face, his eyes stinging in pain. He stumbled backwards, eyesight blurred. The ground gasped in horror and surprise. Metal Knuckles stopped to give him one last contempt glare, before shooting over the finish line.

The race was over. Knuckles had lost.

"I don't believe it!" Sonic exclaimed, clenching a fist. "That cheating son of a…" he was about to launch himself over the edge of the stands at Metal knuckles when Metal Sonic put out an arm, stopping him.

"Sonic, Metal knuckles didn't directly attack Knuckles, so that wasn't against the rules." Sonic's eyes widened.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Dr. Eggman blew a sigh of relief. That was close. Too close. He had an experimental robot in the shop and his team had gotten into the Semi-Finals by the skin of their teeth. All in all, they could have gone far better. Tails Doll was in need of drastic repairs and upgrades, which would take days, meaning that he was out of the Tournament. Everything depended on Metal Knuckles and Egg Robo now.

The crowds began booing as Metal Knuckles officially claimed victory in the race from the judges, who found that despite his trick he hadn't broken any rules. The robot turned back to find Knuckles standing behind him.

"I win." The robotic hedgehog stated, sadistic satisfaction highlighted in his green eyes. Knuckles only replied with a smug grin.

"That proves nothing." He replied. "Only that you know how to use a dirty trick." The Echidna folded his arms. "I'm satisfied now. You're nothing compared to me if you had to resort to something like that to win." The two exchanged one last glare, before Knuckles turned and walked away.

"We'll meet again." Metal Knuckles added. The red echidna let one hand trail up into the air.

"I'm not worried." The Echidna paused as he crossed near Sonic. The blue hedgehog looked down at him, the two exchanged a grin, before Knuckles carried on disappearing into the side door of the stadium.

* * *

The strong had been separated from the weak and Void could see plainly see those who he could use most effectively. This tournament had served it's usage but supplying him with a select few of the fastest being on the mortal plain. The crystal in front of him showed him the four finalist teams. Everything was proceeding according to plan.

"So, the fastest beings in the world, gathered in one place." Void whispered to himself, his blue eyes highlighted evilly by the light radiated from the crystal. "The time is nearly here." A cloven hand waved over the crystal and the image disappeared again. Radiant Emerald was a pocket dimension, created specifically for the soul purpose of keeping him bound.

"Your vendetta will solve nothing Void." The memory of her last statement vibrated in his head again. Those last few words had not been filled with venom and hatred as he had expected, but rather a strange sadness and longing. It had nearly broken him then and there. He narrowed his eyes; she should be the last thing on his mind at a time like this. Radiant Emerald, the prison that had held him for over fifty years was about to crack open.

"Your heart its filled with nothing by rage Void." That was not his memory. The small being turned to face the presence in the crystallised sky above him. It was not her in person, but one of her visages. A snow white angel with golden wings, the soft music from a harp drifting in the air like a strong perfume. It was not enough for her for him to simply endure his prison. She had to gloat as well. "You will bring much suffering to others if you maintain your path." An angry snarl made it's way onto Void's face.

"Maybe it will." He snapped back ."But at least it's my path. If you had your way, we'd all be following the one destiny. My life is my own."

"Or perhaps you have such a distaste for me because I have the heart and servitude of the one you seek the most. Have your life, but live it in isolation." The angel replied, before it shimmered like the surface of water and disappeared. Void was left hovering in the air angry than he'd ever been. His shoulder slumped and he sighed.

"Lumina…" He began, remembering the last time he'd seen her face before being shut in here. He clenched a fist before staring up at the sky of Radiant Emerald, an endless sea of stars, the visage of planets that didn't really exist floating like clouds high above.. "I'll never forgive you Illumina, I swear that when I get out of here, I'll bring Maginary World to it's knees!"

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

It's the start of the Semi Finals with Uncle Sam Vs Sonic and Vector Vs Metal Knuckles. Who will prevail to face each other in the Finals? And what is the mysterious Void up to? Find out next time on Sonic X, The Reactive Factory. Don't miss it!!

(R&R)


	35. Episode 18, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X, R…etc.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

Last time on Sonic X;

_The race could have gone either way, that is until Metal Knuckles gained equal ground with Knuckles and as he did so his eyes flashed open and a flare of bright light shot out from them, blinding the Echidna. Knuckles stopped holding his gloves over his face, his eyes stinging in pain. He stumbled backwards, eyesight blurred. The ground gasped in horror and surprise. Metal Knuckles stopped to give him one last contempt glare, before shooting over the finish line._

_The race was over. Knuckles had lost. _

_"I don't believe it!" Sonic exclaimed, clenching a fist. "That cheating son of a…" he was about to launch himself over the edge of the stands at Metal knuckles when Metal Sonic put out an arm, stopping him._

_"Sonic, Metal knuckles didn't directly attack Knuckles, so that wasn't against the rules." Sonic's eyes widened. _

_"You've got to be kidding me!"_

_Dr. Eggman blew a sigh of relief. That was close. Too close. He had an experimental robot in the shop and his team had gotten into the Semi-Finals by the skin of their teeth. All in all, they could have gone far better. Tails Doll was in need of drastic repairs and upgrades, which would take days, meaning that he was out of the Tournament. Everything depended on Metal Knuckles and Egg Robo now. _

* * *

Episode 18: The reactive Factory

The preliminary races were finally over and the four finalist's teams had been selected. The Semi finals were about to begin. Whoever won the next two races would face each other to race for the Chaos Emerald itself. The four selected had already arrived at the Reactive Factory Track were the remainder of the races would be held. Chaotix had pushed themselves very hard to reach this position and now that they had, they were guaranteed at least one of the second prizes, which was enough to pay off their debts and afford a better place to set up headquarters, not to mention all the publicity their detective agency was gaining in the process. As far as Vector was concerned, Chaotix had already won.

Sam Speed on the other hand had entered this tournament for a reason other than money. Sonic had stolen his title as the world's fastest being and he was here to reclaim it. Tails couldn't wait to race against Sonic, just to see if his Tornado car could keep up with him.

Team Mecha had to be the most unpopular team here. Being constructed by the feared Dr. Eggman and then their leader, Metal Knuckles used a trick to distract his counterpart in the last seconds of the race. They had however abided by the rules of the tournament and could not be disqualified from competing in the finals.

Team Sonic entry into the finals had been expected. Sonic and Shadow were the two fastest creatures alive and most people were too scared to pass Metal Sonic on the open track.

Knuckles had returned to Angel Island after finishing his race with his metal counterpart, he lost, but the mechanical Echidna had had to resort to a cheap trick in order to win. Prooving to Knuckles that Eggman's robot was no threat to him. This infuriated the robot to no end.

"Well its come right down to this people, the Semi Finals are set to begin." Scarlet Garcia announced, continuing her career as the commenter for the tournament alongside Stuart. "But before we start, let's have a run over of the new rules." Sonic looked up towards one of the loud speakers, blinking in confusion.

"New rules?" He repeated questioningly.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Shadow asked, giving him a glare. "The rules for the races changes once we get to the Semi Finals. They told us that when we got here. Don't tell me you forgot?" Sonic rubbed the back of his head with a large goofy smile over his face.

"Sonic has the memory span of a goldfish." Amy remarked, folding her arms.

_"With Amnesia."_ Metal Sonic added. Most of the crowds had gathered in the Stadium on the island to watch the races happen on the large screen at the top as there weren't enough seats in the Reactive Factory course. This was going to be the peak of the tournament and the race officials were doing everything they could do to sell tones of merchandise to those gathering to watch.

"From here on in, only one racer from each team is required to race in each event. So it'll be one on one racing today people. Also, each event will be unique with different rules and conditions the racers will have to adapt their strategies if they expect to advance."

"What do you suppose that means?" Espio asked, thinking over Stuart's announcement. All four teams were standing on the outside of the old abandoned oil refinery that served as the course. There were over ten possible routes through this place, and it was up to the racers which ones they used.

"Who cares?" Vector replied, chuckling to himself. "Even if we win or loose, we're swimming in money before the end of the day Espio. Our finical troubles will be over tomorrow." The chameleon crossed his arms solemnly.

"They'd better be." He added. "I'm a ninja and all this racing doesn't agree with me."

"Only two more races at the most buddy."

"We'd also like to remind those competing, that the first to loose in this next race, go away with nothing." That attracted the Crocodiles attention.

"What?!" He exclaimed. Stuart continued on talking despite his outburst.

"A member of each team will race each other in one big free for all sprint to the finish line. Those who come in first and second place will advance to the finals to face each other. Whoever grabs third gets the five hundred thousand dollar runner up prize and whoever is unlucky enough to come in last place are eliminated from the tournament with nothing to show for their efforts."

"So it's high stakes today people." Scarlet added. "It's going to be one dosey of a race." Vector began cursing. He hadn't counted on this at all.

"We have to get into at least third or we're buggered!" He exclaimed, for the first time during the tournament fear coming into his eyes. Team Mecha were one team mate short. Tails Doll had been retrieved by Dr. Eggman and was undergoing drastically needed repairs after he collapsed during the last race. So for this race it was a choice between either Metal Knuckles or Egg Robo. The two robots stood facing each other, talking silently over a private com link line. After a moment of conversing, they made their decision.

"Rock, paper, SCISSORS!" All of Team Sonic declared, throwing in their heads on last time. Sonic cursed, he had paper and Shadow had just the tools to cut it with.

"Looks' like it's me." The black and red hedgehog remarked smugly. Sonic folded his arms and turned away, sulking. There hadn't been any need for conversation within S-Team. There was only one suited to this sort of race. Tails was upset that he wouldn't be able to use his own car to race and Sam was even more so that Shadow was racing instead of Sonic. He supposed he'd just have to wait until the finals to compete against the blue hedgehog. The human smirked, before placing his helmet on and climbing into his car.

"Ok Espio, you're our fastest racer." Vector said in a panicked rush. "It's up to you to get at least third place, or we go home empty handed."

"I know." The chameleon grunted angrily. "Don't worry Vector; I'll win us that prize money."

"The course for the Semi Finals is up to our racers and as Reactive Factory had near unlimited possible courses to choose from, so this promises to be exciting race." Christmas was only two weeks away now and the Government couldn't believe all the money it was making off the combined events. Millions of people across the entire world had tuned in to watch, and as close to over ten thousand people had tried to cram themselves into the stadium to watch the large screen. Even more were attempting still to get last minute seats in the stands around the Reactive Track itself. "We'll be starting the race in a few short minutes, right after a word from our sponsor." This gave Espio a short time to mentally prepare himself and size up his competition. He was racing three of the world's fastest people and this would be the most draining experience he would ever have to undergo.

Shadow was well known for speed capable of matching even Sonic and Sam Speed was famous as the fabled Speed King. He looked back to see which one of Team Mecha was going to try and participate and too his intense relief, it was EggRobo, the slower of the two that approached the starting line. Thankfully, Metal Knuckles was staying out of it. Espio doubted he had much of a chance against the robotic Echidna and their choice of racers improved his odds slightly. He wasn't however; about to underestimate Egg Robo, what he lacked in speed and power he made up in ruthlessness and intelligence.

Reactive Factory, being an old oil refinery was a twisted maze of roads, pipes and underground parking lots. Various routes had been marked out with orange lights just like in Radical city so the racers wouldn't get lost. The starting and finishing line was

"This will be a one lap race, but not a frantic rush to the finish line." Stuart began to explain over the loud speakers. "The track had been laden with targeting sensors. Whenever a racer gets close to one, they have to touch it and this action will earn them ten points. The racer with the most points is considered to have finished the race first, so this is a test of skill rather than speed. But remember, there is a five minute time limit to the race, so no cheating by going up and down the course to tag sensors you missed the first time before finishing the course." A large grin crossed Espio's face, this helped immensely. He might not be as fast as the others, but in skill he was nearly unsurpassable.

"Egg Robo." The round, egg shaped robot looked down at his communications device to see the face of his creator staring back at him. "The last race was far too close for comfort. Do whatever it takes, but get into the finals."

_"Understood sir."_The Doctor's face disappeared. Apart from millions of viewers, Dr. Eggman himself, Void was also watching. This last race would produce the two he needed and with their help he would finally be able to shatter this prison and exact revenge of the false angel. Radiant Emerald would not hold him much longer.

"I'm coming for you Illumina." He stated with a smirk. Maginary world did not exist in the true sense of conception. It was rather another plane of existence created by the sentience of human and Mobian. There, life forms born by the collective intelligence of all sentient beings dwelled. These creatures believe themselves higher than all other beings and maintained their isolated, occasionally looking in on mortal kind to ensure they did not foolishly destroy themselves. The greatest and most powerful of their kind was the Angel Illumina, a being of such grace, power and beauty that she in captivated all with her glare alone. Void however had seen past all that to gaze at what she really was.

"Racers, to your starting positions." Sam's formula car slowly edged to the line, its tyres resting on the very edge, his foot poised on the accelerator. Shadow stretched his leg muscles before facing the front and Egg Robo simply hovered their casually. This one race would determine which teams faced each other in the finals. Everything, Chaotix's big break, Eggman's success, Sam's vengeance and Sonic's need to again be proved fastest thing on the planet was riding on this.

"3!" Shadow turned to give Espio a side glare.

"Good luck." He stated.

"2!" Espio narrowed his eyes with a smirk.

"As Sonic would say, I don't need luck."

"1!" Shadow chuckled briefly. "GO!"

* * *

The Nano bots that made up Tails Doll, as Eggman had anticipated, would take some time to repair. He cursed himself for not anticipating this. He should have known they would overheat and to be perfectly honest he had been pushing the robot a little hard. The stuffed animal that served as the Nano bots host lay in a waste paper basket some distance away from the workshop table while the thousands of tiny robots lay in a liquid filled contained, the large machinery around them studying their stress levels down that Eggman had bombarded them with regenerative energy. Still however, they remained unaffected. Eggman cursed and rubbed his eyes; bring his face away from the microscope. Nano Technology was a very precise affair, and repairing it was even more complex. This would take, even his main frame computer, months to repair. Eggman growled, this technology was simply too breakable. Hardly practical for use in the military of a world wide empire. It would however, make an excellent repair and construct tool for his robots. He paused to think on that idea and the longer he paused, the more he liked it. Making robots out of Nano bots was simply too complex, yet constructing them with their help was less difficult and had the potential to greatly expand his construction capabilities.

Presently, the one presence he had on Earth was the Egg Carrier 3 itself and a few scant bases here and there. His massive fortress the Egg Moon was still in orbit, strapped to what remained on this planet's satellite. It was highly impractical to begin his conquest of the world there, any forces he tried to pass through the worlds atmosphere would be shot down before they reached the ground, and he was sure that hedgehog would interfere someone. He always did.

He turned back towards the screen at the far end of the room, the one had was showing the coverage of the racing Tournament. They had started and presently, Sam Speed had taken the lead as the four of them shot through the Reactive Factory course, on the look out for hose sensors to earn them points. Becoe and Decoe were up in the Egg Carrier 3's bridge, monitoring the race as well.

Eggman was confident that EggRobo, with its brilliant strategically enhanced mind, would prevail, but after that last close call he could not be too sure.

"Theta!" The large, lumbering form of the Flame throwing robot came entered the workshop through a side door, saluting. "Proceed to that track as once, make sure that EggRobo wins." If it had been possible, Theta would have forged a grin. Finally, a chance for action. The flame throwing android had been getting a little bored since Eggman decided to put his other three robots into the race other than him.

_"They'll be scrapping barbequed racers off the track floor tonight sir." _As he left, Eggman got back to monitoring the Nano bots with a new purpose in mind for them.

* * *

Espio's shuriken sank into one of the sensor target, earning him an additional ten points. He had chosen a different route to the others, which had all sped off in different directions, but he could tell that they were still all going fast since he could hear Sam's engine roar in the distance. He had lost count of how many sensors he had hit, so he assumed that that the other racers had hit a lot of these targets as well, so getting cocky was not an option.

Presently, he was souring across a stretched road that stood on the top of a stretched piece of construction running between two large oil tanks. The orange lights leading him and his sensors desperately trying to lock onto the targeting sensors as they appeared, Espio kept his shuriken close at once. It saved time to simply hit them with these throwing daggers instead of wasting time going up to hit them, according to his watch he only had another three minutes to go before he had to reach the finish line.

Egg Robo was employing a similar strategy, using his portable laser rifle to shot the targets. It nearly destroyed them, but it still counted as a hit, leaving the robot free to focus nearly all his attention on speed. Sam was simply running them over; unable to reach out his window and slap them at these high speeds and Shadow's speed was enough for him to do it the old fashioned way. Simply skating up to them and punching their tops. All their points were more or less even and the race could go to any of them.

"Ahh, I really wanted a go." Sonic said, looking depressed as his arms hung up his sides, seeing how much fun Shadow was having out there. Amy simply grinned and slumped on his shoulders.

"You'll be having the time of your life in the finals, so let Shadow have his moment." Sonic still looked depressed, until of course Amy laid a kiss on his cheek. Had it been a year ago, Sonic would have tried to run for the hills this time he just blushed intensely. Vector was watching the points result on one of the large screens without blinking. Their organisations financial future hinged on this and if Espio didn't pull through for them, then apart from being broke on every convincible level, Vector would probably have to kill his comrade for blowing their one chance to pull themselves out of the grand canyon of debt.

Espio was about to land another hit, when a bellowing pillar of fire shot from the shadows, incinerating his shuriken in mid air before it hit the targeting sensor. The chameleon came to a halt just below Theta flew forward, both flame throwers held at the ready.

_"You're not going to win this race."_ He stated plainly, before fire began dancing all around them.

It was plain that Espio didn't have time for this. The minute he stopped, the other scores went flying past his and Vector nearly had a heart attack. It was his first instinct to stop and fight but Chaotix's future at risk this was something he could afford to waste time on. He leapt through the air and over the flames, another shuriken striking the target, saving Vector from a stroke. Theta about faced and fired another torrent of flames at the chameleon as he tried to race away, nearly catching Espio with red hot fire.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Void

Age: N/A

Sex: Male

Job Description: (I'm keeping his history and purpose secret for now.)

(R&R)


	36. Episode 18, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X, R, etc.)

* * *

Flip Card 2:

Name; Espio

Age: 19

Sex: Male

Species: Chameleon

Job description: Ninja member of the Chaotix detective agency.

* * *

Pillars of flame on his tail and his mind set on a singular objective, Espio coursed through Reactive Factory, one eye looking out for the targeting sensors that would earn him points and the other keeping itself locked onto the flame throwing robot following him, trying to ruin Chaotix's chances of winning the second place prize money.

Shadow had lost count of exactly how many sensors he had hit in the last four minutes but he was sure it was enough to ensure a first place position. Now all he had to do was make his way to the finish line. Regardless of points, those who did not cross the finish line were automatically disqualified. He was about to finish his part of the race when he caught sight of Espio being chased down on of the lower paths by Theta. The chameleon was obviously in need of dire help. He checked the time on his wrist watch. There were only a good fifty seconds left before the race ended, so he would have to be very quick.

Espio hit the last sensor in his path before swinging around firing a shuriken directly at Theta. The robot dodged it before charging forward, firing a torrent of flames directly in the Espio's face. The chameleon was by no means as fast as Sonic and lacked the agility to avoid the blast. Before it could hit him however, a black and red blur came flying hit, its spinning momentum absorbing the flames before it shot forward at terrifying speed smashing itself directly into Theta's body.

The robot was sent flying through the air before crashing down to the ground with a loud crash, his limbs all in an untidy heap. As he fell, the fire around them died down to nothing in an instant. Shadow slid out of his super spin and stood over the defeated robot.

"Get!" he snarled and Theta stared at him defiantly although he lacked the facial muscles to form a sneer and he disappeared in the red haze of a tractor beam from the Egg Carrier 3 some distance away. "Thirty seconds." The black and red hedgehog told the stunned chameleon before he raced of. Espio blinked in confusion before he checked his own watch. His eyes widened, Shadow was right. He only had twenty five seconds now to finish the race.

On his feet in an instant, Espio soured after Shadow towards the end of the course which was a large platform that once housed an oil tower. The rusted rivets drilled into the floor on its surface showed where it had once bee. Vector was on the edge of his seat was the large screen showed Espio as he soured towards the finishing line through the twisted metal maze. If his comrade didn't finish, then they were finished. He bit into his lips, his fingers crossed. Chamree was hovered over his shoulder, repeating 'comeoncomeoncomeoncomeoncomeoncomeoncomeon' over and over again.

The others had finished the race now and they were all standing there waiting for their final scores to be announced. Another of the larges screens had a digital timer on it, slowly counting down from ten. Espio had just ten seconds left.

The crowds in the Stadium and millions of viewers at home held their breath. Espio was closing fast on the end, but he was down to his last few seconds now. Now in sight of the finish, Espio tried to run faster than he'd ever run before with out six seconds to do. Time for him seemed to slow down to a crawl and the only sounds he could hear were coming from his struggling heart. Then, with a giant explosion of sound he crossed the finish line with one second to spare and the whistle was blown, officially ending the race. Vector uncrossed his fingers, breathed a well deserved sigh of relief before collapsing into his chair.

"I can tell you Scarlet, that was a close call for Team Chaotix." Stuart stated as Espio stopped to catch his breath. He certainly hoped he come in third place; because there was no way in hell he was doing all this again. He was a ninja for crying out load. "Another second and they would have been instantly disqualified."

"Don't cheer for them yet. We still have to announce the scores to see which two teams go onto the finals." The largest screen at Reactive Second switched to a tally chart with the different team names down the side. Everyone looked in his direction and suddenly Vector was highly strung again, his heart pounding away in desperate anticipation. Next to the Team Mecha, the number ten thousand and fifty appeared. Then Team Sonic who managed to score ten thousand one hundred. Finally it came down to the next two teams, S-Team and Team Chaotix. Vector pressed his teeth together, nearly drawing blood from his lips. After a brief moment that Vector felt carried on for ten hours, the number nine thousand and ten flipped on for Team Chaotix and for S-Team, nine thousand.

There was a brief moment of silence as it sank in before Chaotix cast each other unsure glances and they realized that they had taken third place and won five hundred thousand dollars.

Vector's first reaction was disbelief. Chaotix had been in debt so long his mind simply refused to belief that they were finally finically well off. It was only when Espio uncharacteristically thrust his fist into the air with a loud YAHHOOO, did he actually except it.

"I lost?" Sam repeated, looked unfounded. His helmet fell from his grip as he stood there in shock.

"Oh get over yourself." Tails moaned.

"That is it folks, the Semi's are over and the two teams to race each other have been decided." Scarlet told the excited crowd. Metal Knuckles and Metal Sonic Exchanged another painfully piercing glare that refused to budge either way. Even though the Chaos Emerald was no longer open to them, Chaotix couldn't have been happier. Then they found they could when a security guard clad in Swat gear brought them two silver cases stuffed full of money. Vector grabbed a fist full of it and threw it up into the air, dancing in his first money rain.

"It's the high life for us guys." He cried and that was when Espio grabbed all the money back, stuffed it back into the cases and slammed the lids.

"Oh no you don't." He declared, taking the cases from the guard. "The first thing we're going to do it dig our way out of debt, then we relocate the agency to some better part of town, with a nice office. Maybe even a secretary." Vector let his arms dropped to his sides with a disappointed look on his face. While getting out of debt was his main concern, he had wanted to splurge a little of it on a celebration party night. Espio however was a realized, knowing exactly how money Vector would spend if he was let loose on the town with two cases full of case. Besides, the longer they held onto it in person, the more likely it would be fore someone to steal it.

"But let's not forget the two teams that raced like true Speed demons." Stuart stated quickly. "Let's give Team Chaotix and S'Team a big hand." The crowds suddenly erupted into a rumbling of clapping, cheers and whistles.

"So what now huh?" Charmee asked, hanging in the air inquisitively. Espio handed one of the cases to him as both were too heavy for him and he was knackered as it was.

"First." The chameleon began; speaking for Vector could interrupt with part ideas. "We give the banks their due money and then you too go house hunting for a few place to set up shop. I doubt money will be much of a problem now." Vector picked up the 'the two of you' part in the sentence and narrowed an eye questioningly at the chameleon.

"And where will you be?" He asked as the three of them made their way back towards the bridge that would lead them directly back to the Stadium, the cheers of the crowd still beckoning them out.

"Where else?" Espio asked. "Napping for the next two days."

Sam looked utterly defeated. He hadn't even raced Sonic and he'd been eliminated from the Semi finals. It was so embarrassing, even more so when he lost to Sonic for the first time in front of all of Station Square. A loud whistling caught his attention and he looked around. Sonic himself was standing there with his hands on his hips. The two of them shared a glance that seemed hostile for a moment before a grin made it's way onto Sonic's face. His humour was contagious and however Sam found himself smiling at well. Suddenly loosing didn't seem all that bad, after all he reckoned, they say it builds character and he was certainly mature enough to avoid being a sore looser.

"I'll get you next time." The human stated, before turning and making his way towards the bridge. Sonic's grin widened.

"Well I suppose that's it for me then." Tails commented as he pushed his Tornado racer off the track. Amy had been watching him since S-Team had been officially declared the ultimate losers of the semi finals, worried that the loss would make him a little sour towards them. Fortunately, neither Tails nor Sam were sore losers and all the fox could do was grin. "Which one of you will take be taking on those Metal jerks in the finals, as if I need to ask?" He added, looking past the pink Hedgehog towards Sonic who had his back to them both.

* * *

The blow Shadow had dealt Theta had not proved to be too troublesome to fix and Decoe had managed to repair the damage within minutes, but by then the race had ended. Eggman was still busy in his workshop reprogramming Tails' dolls nano bots for use in robot construction and hadn't been informed of the race results yet. Someone, the two hencebots knew that he was already aware of the outcome. He was after all in constant communication with Metal Knuckles and Tails Doll.

Some time after the race ended, Eggman emerged from his workshop with a determined, almost angry look on his face. He marched past Decoe and Becoe without saying a word before seating himself in the metallic throne in the centre of the Egg Carrier 3's bridge. Theta quickly left, sensing his creator's bad mood.

Decoe and Becoe said nothing either, knowing it was much better to let Eggman steam away in silence than provide themselves as targets. It was a good few minutes before the Doctor sighed and slouched in his seat, showing that he had regained some control over his anger.

"It seems I'm forced to chance my objectives." He sighed, looking disappointed with himself. He had been counting on and looking forward to Metal Knuckles beating Sonic but now he wasn't so sure if either of the two robots he had at the Tournament was up to the job. He couldn't enter another, faster robot now. He had neither the knowledge nor means to construct one and besides, it was against the Tournament rules. Humiliating Sonic seemed less and less attractive with each passing second. The Chaos Emerald prize on the other hand was quite appealing.

Winning it fair and square was quite out of the question. He would simply have to cheat. The nano technology had he been able to salvage from Tails doll could a lot more to help him in simply upgrading his manufacturing capabilities.

"Metal Knuckles." He announced, pressing a button on his throne's arm rest. There was a brief buzzing sound and a holographic display of his prime robot appeared before him once the robotic Echidna answered the com link. "I'm sending you a little present to help you win in the race tomorrow." Eggman pressed another button and a small vile containing some of the Nano bots was ejected from the Egg Carrier 3 through it's tractor beam. Metal Knuckles let a hand trail up into the air and he caught it. "Integrate these into your system, they will greatly increase your strength and speed." He paused, narrowed an eye before adding . "Don't lose them, I can't make another batch." Metal Knuckles saluted and the holographic transmission ended.

* * *

Despite Espio's warning and moaning, Vector insisted that they had a celebration. It wasn't every day that Five hundred thousand dollars fell into your lap. Eventually, Espio relented and handed the crocodile five hundred to throw a small party, stressing the small part and while the chameleon got to work quickly clearing their debts before something could go disastrous wrong, Vector went out to buy as much champagne and small packet of peanuts he could. Not that he was found of peanuts, but Charmee couldn't get enough for them.

The bee himself had been circling up-town of Station Square all after noon and reported back with a short list of places they would find perfect for a new place. When Vector came home with several grocery bags under his arms, Espio put down the phone and announced that now, Chaotix was officially debt free. Vector nearly jumped in the air for joy had he not be carrying bags full of expensive champagne bottles.

"I hope your looking after that money." Sonic stated when, upon invitation, he Tails, Amyan Shadow arrived at their small apartment with Chris, Helen and Chuck in tow, to what the invitation claimed to be, _'**the partee of the cetary'**_. Clearly, Charmee had written them.

Vector thought inviting Sonic was a wise precaution as few would be willing to try and steal something from under the blue hedgehog's nose, no matter how much money he was sitting on.

"Espio's gone completely paranoid about it." Vector stated, looking back to see the chameleon wasn't ease dropping. "He's hand cuffed one of the cases to himself and hidden the other, even I don't know where it is. He says he won't let either of them out of his sight until we sort out all we have to do." Tails chuckled.

"Don't want it stolen do you?" He asked as the crocodile stepped aside and let them all inside. From the roof of the apartment building, Fang the Sniper paused to study the plans of the building that he had stolen from city hall. His old team mates had a staggering amount of money in their apartment and the fact had been announced on nationally T.V. He wasn;t too concerned about the buildings security or Chaotix themselves. If anything, the weasel would be facing more competition from rival thieves. Nearing a sudden nose, he looked over the edge of the building to see Sonic and his friends enter through the downstairs entrance. He cursed. This was not what he needed. Quickly he rolled his plans up and tucked them into his belt.

Fang was not the sort to give up at any obstacle. He was going to get his hands on his money and nothing was going to stop him. The weasel looked over all his equipment to see if he had everything necessary to pull the job off, a grappling hook, infrared scopes and a shot gun.

"Get used to the taste of champagne Espio." Vector said as the night wore on and after several calls from the neighbours to turn the music down. "It's the high life for us!" Clearly the crocodile had had a little too much to drink. Espio could smell it on his breath and in his stride, staggering every so often. Quickly the chameleon snatched the bottle away from him before he did himself an injury.

"Something tells me you'd better put that money in an account before it's all gone." Chuck muttered, gaining Espio's ear.

Surprisingly, Shadow had done more in the way of partying than Sonic, who simply sat at the end of the small apartment staring into the centre of the room solemnly. Finally Shadow noticed this, sighed and went over.

"It's not like you to be so quiet." He stated. The blue hedgehog looked up noticing his presence.

"I'm just thinking." He stated quietly.

"And that's not like you either." When Sonic didn't reply. Shadow followed his gaze to what he was looking at. He groaned in realization when he saw Amy talking with Helen next to the large Juke box Vector had bought earlier in the day. The black and red hedgehog crossed his arms and gave Sonic a sly look. Sonic matched it a glare of his own.

"Yes, I know." He stated, before turning back. Shadow sighed and leaned back against the wall.

"I can remember when you couldn't stand being around her."

"So can I." Shadow had little to no experience in this sort of thing and so decided that it was best not to bother the blue hedgehog with his advice. Better to let him do this on his own.

Captain Okida knew he was on the right trail, but if his instincts were correct, when what he found at the end of that trail could be very dangerous. Following the President's direct orders, he and the rest of Freelance division had spent their time pursuing leads that might reveal to them the identity of the agent betraying all their secrets to the Eggman Empire. The Government considered this a top priority and to be kept as quiet as possible. The last thing they needed was outright paranoia infesting the country.

While Bean and Bark had been unsuccessful in locating any clues, Okida though he had stumbled onto something big. In the private files of the G.U.N military, the bat discovered clear evidence of a download of classified information. This proved that the agent they were looking for was a Government official with a username and password to gain access to the system. Unfortunately, they had also used an unknown piece of software to cover their tracks pretty well. It wasn't much but it was start.

The vampire bat started to rise form his chair to deliver this information to the President but paused. There would be little point of informing anyone of his discovery until he could verify the information. He didn't want to lead them off down a wild goose chase without first making sure he was right.

He sat back down and began streaming thorough the thousands of files that flashed up on the screen.

This agent was clearly computer literate with enough knowledge of Government affairs to know exactly what and when to go after. But sop far, little clues to reveal his identity. Okida paused for thought again. Perhaps he was trying this all wrong and looking for the wrong thing.

His fingers flew over the keyboard and he began looking again.

"Well hello." He stated finally finding something. Apparently, there had been several failed attempts at downloading information within the last month and the amateurs had even left their username at the top of the page. The bat remembered reading about this. A terrorist group had tried to gain access to government files but had been caught in the process, it had been all over the news. This seemed a little too convenient for the agent. The perfect division. "I think I may just have something."

Late that night, Fang descended down the side of the building one a line, clad completely in black clothing. His watch was timing him. He had to be in and out with the money in two minutes, any longer than that and he risked revealing himself. He pressed a button at the side of his goggles and their lens started glowing screen, activating the scopes. He paused for a few seconds before kicking himself off from the building and sliding down to the window he was aiming for.

To his delight he found it open and just as he was about to slid inside, a arm lashed itself out from the darkness inside, a hand tightening itself around his neck. Fang gagged, struggling in mid air to free himself. Shadow leaned out of the window. It was a good think they decided to stay for the night after all. This guy looked oddly familiar thought but he couldn't place where. He shrugged, gave Fang one long glare before tossing him straight off the side of the building. His ropes slowed his decent and prevented the weasel from gaining serious injury, although his fall wasn't broken completely when he crashed into a tree below, fell out it's branches and into a bush below.

"Hey what was that?" Sonic asked sleepily from inside.

"Nothing." Shadow replied before turning away from the window.

* * *

(In Chris Voice)

The finals begin, but something goes wrong and its Chaos Control time! Void makes his move on the next Sonic X, Enter the Void. Don't miss it!"

(R&R)


	37. Episode 19, part 1

I do not own Sonic X, R…etc.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

**Episode 19**: Enter the Void

* * *

The roars of the crowd filled their ears as the two teams approached each other from opposite sides of the stadium. The air was full of snow and balloons rising from the stands. After tolerating several intrusions made by Dr, Eggman, precautions were beginning taken to ensure that this time; the Doctor would not interfere with the races. Stationed around the stadium and track itself was an entire regiment of G.U.N walkers. Chaotix; now finished in third with a heap full of money sat in the stands next to Chris and Chuck. Espio had wanted to finish the finical arrangements, but after he spent four fours straight finalising some tedious thing, Vector insisted he got a life.

"Metal Knuckles." Sonic began as the two of them approached each other to line up directly with the finish line. "I'm going to chew you up and spit you out."

_"You'll have to catch me first." _

"Well it's finally here." Scarlet began to the enthusiastic crowd. "The finals of the Emerald Grand Prix are moments away from starting." It had already been agree by the others that Sonic was to race in the finals. The blue hedgehog was insisted that he be the one to take down Metal Knuckles, as a smatter of principle. Shadow could see the conviction in his eyes and didn't argue.

Dr. Eggman himself was watching on the sports channel, drumming his fingers nervously. His mind was full of doubts, his faith in his elite team shaken and his patience beginning to thin. This was the last race that determined whether he won the chaos Emerald and humiliated Sonic like he originally set out to do, or lost everything. It was a 50/50 chance either way, even with those enhancements he had provided Metal Knuckles with. Eggman hated those kind of odds and was beginning to think of different ways of snatching a victory if things should do wrong.

"As the two team captains approach the start, let's remember that this entire tournament has been leading up to this moment." Stuart added. "Whoever wins this goes home tonight with the Chaos Emerald and is announced the fastest thing on this planet."

"That titles mine." Sonic stated, giving Metal Knuckles a side glance.

_"Keep it."_ The robot replied sourly. _"All I want is the Chaos Emerald."_

Chuck, Chris and Helen had been watching from the stands. Chris was confident that Sonic would win, although he was sure Metal Knuckles would use some kind of dirty trick to win like he did in his race with Knuckles. Sonic was expecting something like that; Metal Knuckles was nothing like his predecessor Metal Sonic, who preferred to win on his own terms. This robotic Echidna was a simple stooge to Eggman.

"The two team Captains are ready to race, so let's get this race underway." The crowd's cheers intensified, burning in their ears.

"On your marks." Someone announced. The two of them turns, ready to run. The roar of the crowd seem to die down in anticipation as the green flag was held high in the pair, almost reluctant to let itself fall. Amy's throat went dry during those few second as the eyes of everyone within five hundred feet were locked onto the falling flag, going down in slow motion. Sonic's went dry, before finally the flag descended completely to the ground.

"GO!"

Void's eyes widened and a sadistic smile spread over his face, now was the time. His arms flew out and he called on the immense power of the Radiant Emerald to allow him intervention in the mortal world. The crystals around him vibrated in song, their power merging with his, allowing his influence to reach across the divide. Sonic and Metal Knuckles were hardly away from the start when it happened. The entire sky went bright white, like the whole planet had been engulfed by a giant Chaos Control warp. The whole thing only took two minutes to complete itself as the six people Void needed were snatched one by one from their places in reality. Sonic was the first to disappear, vanishing in a white haze, followed almost imminently by Shadow, Metal Knuckles spun around trying to figure out what was going on before he too completely disappeared. Eggman had just enough time to get several curses in as the Egg Carrier 3 was engulfed by the light as he was chosen; plunked up from his seat. Chuck was pulled violently from his seat, vanishing like he'd never been there at all. Tails tried to escape the light, but in the end it swallowed him up as well. With a sudden flare it was over and millions of people all over the world were left staring around in utter confusion.

"What the hell just happened?" Amy demanded, staring around with her mouth hung open.

"Grandpa?!" Chris demanded of the empty space where his grandfather had been sitting only moments before.

Void collapsed to the ground, his arms hardly able to support his own weight. It took tremendous amounts of strength to brink someone to his realm. Void lacked the necessary power to propel someone the other way, but that would soon change. Despite his heavy breathing, he laughed. Illumina's hold over him was about to shatter. Struggling to his feet, Void looked out across the great expanse of radiant Emerald. He couldn't see them all directly but their life force signals were easily detectable. Six was a large number, but he needed all of them here if his plan was to work. He paused to gather himself again.

It would be impolite as a host if he kept his guests waiting.

* * *

The world around him blurred and suddenly Sonic was within a new location. The race track he had been set on had disappeared and replaced with towering emerald like structures. One minute in one location and the next in another, no explanation provided for this strange occurrence. Even Shadow, who had seen some strange things in his life time stood there stunned into silence, his mouth hung open.

The trip had not been so gentle on Eggman, who lay on the ground, rubbing the back of his head, groaning. Chuck was there was well, looking from side to side with a puzzled expression on his face rather than shock. Very little could shock the scientist, it was his nature to look at things from a scientific point of view instead of a hysterical one. Tails was trying to get his bearings, appearing utterly confused, trying to make sense of his news surrounds, failing miserably. Metal Knuckles; not prone to fits of hysteria, he simply stood perfectly still, scanning the surrounding environment for any data as to his present location. Slowly as the silence amongst them persisted, someone gathered up the nerve to say something.

"Fascinating." Chuck breathed, looking around him. Eggman pulled himself to his feet unsteadily.

"Fascinating?!" He repeated, looking perplexed. "Just where the hell are we?"

"Why don't you tell _us_ Eggman?" Sonic demanded angrily. "What did you do?" Eggman stared back, matching his angry stare.

"Don't look at me Hedgehog. I'm just as confused as the rest of you." Chuck ignored them all, studying this new place with great interest. While he did not know precisely where they were or how or why they had gotten here, he intended to make the best of it and study this curious scientific phenomenon. Appearance wise, this place seemed to resemble a Chaos Emerald's exterior, each surface glistening with a polished surfaces, all different coloured, constantly changing from one to the other. A strange, musical notation hung in the air that's pitch seemed to correspond to what coloured streamed through the walls and floors. Looking up, Chuck studying the new sky above him and the others. It appeared to be like a night sky with twinkling stars, but it curved, the light radiating from the emeralds around them show that, enclosing whatever location they were in, in a bubble. This place defied all scientific knowledge and the human scientist was hard pressed to even come up with a working theory for its existence.

"Look for the last time; I didn't have anything to do with it!" Eggman snapped brushing Sonic's accusations away. "I don't even know where we are so I could hardly come up with a way to get here."

"Don't waste your time Sonic." Shadow sighed, looking around them. "He doesn't know anything." Sonic sighed angrily and sat down on the floor, looking frustrated.

"Just what is this place?" He asked himself.

"I have the answer you seek." A voice that seemed to lot with the musical hum stated. Everyone blinked and looked up to see a small creature floating in the air above their heads. It was only which the size of a mobian with a slender blue body and tanned head, strange mint green hair that glowed brightly with the light from the crystal structures. Its eyes were a strange mixture of black and blue, curved outwards. Slowly, it floated down and hung directly in front of them.

"Just who are you!" Shadow asked in exclamation.

"My name is Void." The creature replied as he floated down to the ground, his arms crossed. His large blue eyes staring directly at them, thousands of stars seemed to twinkle in their depths. "The six of you are trespassers in my realm. Why have you come here?" They were all silent, none of them quite sure what to say, to put into any reply that made the slightest bit of sense. His patience warring thin, Eggman stormed to the front.

"Now listen here, whatever you are, just where are we?" He demanded, waving a fist angrily in Void's direction.

"Radiant Emerald, end of all places." Void's reply was so swift and full of finality that Eggman's curse ridden reply was stilled in his throat.

"This is incredible." Chuck said to himself, standing a little further away from the group, studying the towering crystallized structures all around them and the glittering emerald sky with a thousand stars sparkling like jewels. This place was like nothing he had ever seen before. He looked down through the floor and found it slightly transparent and what lay below it seemed to be a void of darkness, glittering stars swarm in a bleak sea far below. The emeralds around them the only source of light in this place, utter darkness hung on the borders ready to swallow them up.

"It's like we're inside a giant Chaos Emerald." Shadow remarked, looking around for himself. A short smile crossed Void's face.

"That statement may be more adept than you realize." He said quietly to himself, before turning back. "If you have any thoughts of leaving here, then I must warn you, removing yourselves from this dimensions is a risky and dangerous procedure."

"But it can be done?" Sonic asked. Void nodded reluctantly, before he let a arm trail out towards his left, pointing directly at a gigantic tower made completely out of emerald shards, emitting alight that changed colour softly, morphing from a blazing green, to a blood red and then back again. It towered over the rest of the structures like a lighthouse, its glow lighting the entire sky. It was like then glow they'd seen when they first arrived came directly from this place.

"That tower is the only connection between this secluded pocket realm and all others. If you wish to return to your world, you will have to travel up to its spire." There were was complete silence amongst their group, broken only by the soft musical hum that seemed to radiate from all around them.

"Something tells me that isn't as easy as it sounds." Shadow replied, narrowing an eye. Void nodded in agreement.

"The spire's energies are not always constant, energy changes around it, causing warps of space and time that defy the laws of physics, even more so than the entire dimension itself. Get trapped in one of those, and you cease to exist." A horrified look came over Eggman's face as a terrifying picture flashed itself into his head.

"Exactly how long have you been here?" Sonic asked, folding his arms. Void paused, rolling his eyes as he searched his memory.

"Here time is one with space, one moment no different from the other, so I couldn't tell you how long in your years." He put a fore finger and thumb to his chin. "But if I have to guess, I'd say forty years."

"And you haven't tried to escape in all that time?"

"Escape?" Void repeated, looking down at them with a puzzled expression. "Why would I want to? The energy of this place sustains me far beyond my years, while I stay here, I am immortal." They all cast each other puzzled looks. "I know not how you arrived in his world, but if you wish, I can help you return from wince you came."

"I don't trust him." Shadow muttered to Sonic as Chuck began asking Void lots of questions about this strange dimension they'd blundered into. "Don't you think its odd we suddenly arrived here and then he conveniently shows up to help us?" Sonic didn't reply. He had his own suspicions about this strange being, but he supposed he couldn't voice them until he could be absolutely sure about it. The last thing Sonic wanted to do was offend the one person who might be able to get them out of his crazy place.

Chuck was scribbling down as many notes as he could, so fast that eventually he busted his pencil in the process. Eggman, while a curios scientist like Chuck, did not find this place as amusing at all. Quite frankly he didn't care how or why they were here. All he wanted to do was get out as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

The next half an hour was spent listening to Void as he described the spire and the various anomalies that floated around, portraying in great detail the fate of those who wandered into them. The silver lining to the cloud however was that these warps were usually in fixed positions, so they could be easily avoided. At the tip of the spire the energy converged in on itself to create a warp similar to that involved in Chaos Control. If someone were to race up the tower fast enough, shattering the sound barrier as soon as he hit the warp then the gateway would be opened.

"You must be precise." He stated. If you are even a millisecond off, the portal will not open and you will be sent flying into the air, for a very long fall down."

"Sonic, a word please." Shadow said quietly, tapping the blue hedgehog shoulder, gesturing to an outcrop of emerald towers. Sonic followed him behind them. The black hedgehog looked extremely agitated. "I've tried, but it just doesn't work here." Sonic blinked in confusion.

"What doesn't?" He asked.

"Chaos Control." Shadow continued. "I've been trying, but something about this place won't let me do it." Sonic blinked and turned his energies inward, attempting a Chaos Control teleportation for himself. He managed to gather the energy for it, but when he actually attempted the transport; it was as if he came up against an unrelenting brick wall. He tried again and once more he failed.

"I can't either." He admitted sourly. Shadow began uncharacteristically twiddling with his thumbs.

"I have to get out of here Sonic…He said in a pained voice. The blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow at him sceptically. "I've never; _not,_ been able to use Chaos Control before." He looked around at the emerald sky above him. "It feels…unnatural."

"We'll be out of here soon enough." Sonic replied. "That is if this, Void, is any help." They both turned to look back at the strange, petite creature floating in the air.

"You don't trust him then?"

"Not as far as I can throw him."

"Then we agree on something. Whatever his motives are, he's a very good liar. Had me going for a moment too," A smile stiffened on the black and red Hedgehog's face."Or perhaps it's just the two of us have been through enough to afford outright paranoia." The two of them exchanged a friendly glance.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Sonic added. "If he tries anything, a spin attack will be the least of his worries."

"And I'll watch Eggman."

"And don't forget that Metal Knuckles either." To be truthful, given the strangeness of their situation, Shadow had nearly forgotten about the robotic Echidna, standing to attention beside his master. "That guy's more likely to sucker punch us than Void."

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Radiant Emerald

Job description: A sub dimension that has served as Void's prison for over four decades.

(R&R)


	38. Episode 19, part 2

**(I do not own Sonic X…etc.)**

* * *

**Flip card 2:**

Name: Sonic

Age: 17

Species: Hedgehog

Talents: Super speed, Chaos Control

Description: A hyper speedy hedgehog with a love for adventure.

* * *

The spire was even more impressive close up than it was from a distance. Void had lead the six of them through the forest of towering crystal structures that littered Radiant Emerald right up to the base of the spire that stood as the tallest structure in this bizarre location.

It's base was a flat square with several other smaller structures feeding into it at jagged angles, it's towering point so far up none of them actually see it. Its entire length was completely vertically smooth, tapering off at the end. Its tip was marked, only by the radiant glow that alternated between colours like it couldn't make up its mind.

"Up there?" Tail asked weekly, pointing upwards. Void nodded solemnly, crossing his arms as he floated above the ground. The small being had told them the only exit to this dimension was a focal point at the very top. Only there could the dimension fabric be broken, opening a hole back to the mortal world. The spire however was dangerous. The focal point created deadly free floating anomalies, anyone caught in one of those literally ceased to exist. Speed was off the essence in climbing it.

"Have you ever reached the top?" Sonic asked, peering upwards into the star light sky above him, trying to see if he could make out the summit. Void blinked and looked up himself.

"Once." He replied. "But I did not possess the speed necessary to punch the hole." He shrugged and floated down to the ground, sitting with his legs crossed. "But that was a long time ago now, I haven't much reason to try it again since." Shadow had been watching Void very carefully since they set off. Perhaps it was is untrusting nature, but the black and red hedgehog could that something about the small creature's words did not ring true. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but neither the less he could not let Void out of his sight until they were safely out of this weird place. He shuddered, feeling that same creeping dread he had felt time and time again come over him. And none too soon.

The fact that Chaos Control didn't work here was the least of his problems. He hadn't wanted to tell Sonic, but the longer Shadow stayed here, the weaker he felt. It was as if the entire location was a parasite on his chaotic nature, draining him of the chaos energy that kept him alive. Like it was feeding on him. Shadow began to think that if he didn't get out of here soon then…he didn't want to think about it. "From this point I'm afraid, I can help you little." Void confessed, lowering his face. "I have told you all that I can, you six must enter the spire alone." He pointed towards the entrance of the spire which was a round opening in the base with a single set of stairs sliding up within the tower itself. "My presence will be a burden rather than an aid." Eggman eyed the opening suspiciously.

"Metal Knuckles." He began; gesturing to his robot. "Proceed." The robotic Echidna nodded before he strode forward.

"Remember." Void added. "Speed is required if you intend to escape the dangers." The robot paused for a brief moment before continuing. Metal Knuckles was by no means as intelligent as Metal Sonic and lacked the sentience to realize that Eggman was sending him in to test the danger. As he reached the doorway, a large slab of emerald came crashing down, concealing the entrance and nearly crushing the robotic Echidna into the ground. "There are many traps, besides the temporal warps that pose danger." Metal Knuckles backed off quickly and as soon as he was a respectable distance from the entrance, the slab swung aside again.

"Just what do these warps look like?" Chuck asked.

"They have no physical substance that I can describe to you. You will recognise them by a sphere of red light." Void rose and pointed up towards the top of the spire again. They strained to see what he was looking at and finally they saw one, a red orb floating near the top, hovering in the air like an insect. It was too far away to see clearly, but it was odiously what Void was trying to show them. "Avoid them at all costs." Sonic shuddered, imagining what would happen to any of them should they encounter those things, getting trapped within them and ceasing to exist.

"Tails buddy. You'd better hang onto me." He told his old friend and the fox nodded, letting Sonic pick him up in a piggy bank. Shadow agreed to take Chuck, the extra weight doing little to slow him down. As ordered, Metal Knuckles would carry his master up the spire. "Something tells me this is going to be a bumpy ride." The blue hedgehog added as they all turned to the entrance.

"Remember." Void began quickly. "You must break the speed on sound directly on the tip. Any sooner or later and you miss your chance. It's a long fall down from up there, believe me. You'll probably be dead before you hit the ground. " Sonic gave a thumbs up over his shoulder. Without another word, they raced forward, all of them clearing the entrance before the slab slammed down, sealing them inside. Void watched them go, waiting for s moment before a sadistic smile spread over his face.

Those idiots were even more stupid than he'd imagined. They would open the way for him, allowing the exaction of his revenge and they didn't even know it.

* * *

Since the race contestants and most of their team members had completely disappeared, the race itself had been put on hold for the time being. No one could explain exactly what had happened or how. The President had still been trying to figure out what had happened. His tournament had been going beautifully right up until the last moment when something went completely and utterly pear-shaped and spoilt it.

"Just what in god's name happened?" He demanded of nearly race official, who couldn't tell him anymore more than he already knew. This seemed to infuriate the President. The government had made a killer profit out of the tournament, but if it all ended like this then it had failed it's purpose miserably.

"I can't find Sonic anywhere." Amy admitted when the four of them meet up again. The pink Hedgehog, Metal Sonic, Chris and Helen had been scouring the entire stadium looking for their friends that had simply disappeared when the sky above them had been completely bathed in a white light.

"I can't find grandpa either." Chris began, looking worried. "One second he was sitting besides me and the next he was gone." Helen scratched the back of her head looking puzzled.

"It's as if they were just pulled up into the sky." She stated.

"Hey!" Vector shouted and he and the rest of Chaotix crossed over to them. "Any luck?" Metal Sonic shook his head with a shrug. "Us neither." The crocodile admitted. "And we searched every inch of this place." Seeing the strange disappearance of the racers for themselves, Chaotix decided to help them search.

"What do you think happened to them?" Espio asked. Vector grinned and put his hands on his hips.

"Elementary my dear Espio, there's only one explanation for this."

"And what would be?"

"Our friends were simply abducted by aliens, taken to some far away planet for experimentation."

There was a sudden blurring sound and Scarlet Garcia's voice suddenly came over the loud speakers around the stadium. She sounded confused and rather stunned, not that half the stadium full of people weren't.

"Er folks. We've just received the judge's decision and it seemed they're letting the race continue."

"What?" Amy asked the air around her in astonishment.

"It seems that each team still has at least one member left." Stuart pointed out. They all suddenly realized that it was true. Team Mecha still had Egg Robo on their team, who was sitting on the outskirts of the stadium silently. Amy and Metal Sonic were registered members of Team Sonic and qualified as official racers. "So the team must select a racer to finish for those who disappeared and finish the race." Egg Robo, being the only member of Team Mecha left, rose and crossed over to the start of the course.

"They can't seriously get on with the race with Sonic and the others missing can they?" Helen asked.

"Looks like they can." Chris replied. "So which one of you is going to race?" Metal and Amy cast each other a glance.

"I am." The pink hedgehog replied. Metal Sonic nodded in agreement.

_"I'll keep searching for the others. I can cover more ground than you." _Without another word, his jet activated and he flew away from begin his search again from the air. Amy sighed and pulled her skates out, quickly putting them on her feet.

"That Egg robo may not be as fast as those other robots." Helen began. "But it can certainly think strategically enough." Egg Robo's defining skill throughout the entire tournament had not been speed, but rather how he used his own abilities, intelligence and the environment around him to outthink its competition. Amy knew that she would have to watch her back with this one.

"And just where have you been?" Bean asked as their captain joined them in Freelance Division's private sky box at the top of the stadium, watching over all the activity down in the centre. Bean and Bark had been watching the race and the chaos that ensued after the racers disappeared from up here.

"Working." Okida replied simply. "Which is what you should be doing." He added, giving Bean and Bark a warning glare. "So what's been happening while I've been away?"

"How long have you got?" It took several minutes for them to explain to their captain exactly what had happened. Okida hadn't been listening for the most part. He simply pulled the char and sat down to watch the final race begin. Amy realized that it was all up to her now and with that realization came a dreadful uncertainty. If she lost, then Eggman won the Chaos Emerald. Sonic certainly would appreciate that.

Suddenly a thought ran through her head as the countdown to the start of the finals began. If she won this, she imagined that it would go a long way to impressing Sonic. She could really impress Sonic. At the moment their relationship verged on the borders of official girlfriend and boyfriend. This might tip it over that edge. A goofy smile crossed her face as the countdown reached zero and she was Egg Robo flew across the start.

* * *

The inside of the spire was a twisting maze of stairs that lead them up and up within the glowing emerald like structure. So far, they'd encountered none of those dangerous warps that Void had warned them about but Shadow estimated they'd see those closer to the top. Metal Knuckles found that the weight of his creator was beginning to slow him down a little and fell behind as Sonic and Shadow with Tails and Chuck on their backs raced forward, keeping their eyes open for anything that might try to lunge at them.

This spire seemed to so on forever, a never ending twisting stair case made from emerald. Eventually however they reached a separate level of the tower, sliding out to a separate level floor. This new floor was almost completely white with six multi coloured pillars at irregular angles lancing up out of the ground towards the tapering ceiling so high above. A set of stairs, much thinner than the last set, made nearly completely out of light it seemed, wrapped around each one. They gave each other a glance before each taking a separate stair and racing up it. As they reached them, jagged spikes lanced out of the floor, trying to impale each of them. Sonic slid around them and reached the stars and as he ran up them, Tails hanging on around his neck for dear life, each stair he traversed disappeared behind him. The same was said for the other, who found they had to race hard to avoid falling down to the jagged spikes. Now they understood what Void meant when he said speed was their friend here.

Eggman screamed like a little girl as the deadly blade of an axe swung down, nearly hitting him in the head. Metal Knuckles noticed the danger and tried to pour on more speed with such an anchor dragging him down. Each stair seemed to have a different trap awaiting them.

Sonic was nearly thrown down to the floor now far below by the wall when it flew outwards, nearly knocking him and Tails off the edge. Shadow and Chuck had to dodge several sharp projectiles hurled at them from dark holes on the walls. These darts narrowly missed them; sinking into the wall they had just passed. As each of them carried on, these traps seemed to alternate from one to the other as if the spire itself was trying to catch them off guard.

Like the stairs below, these new twisting trap filled spirals nearly carried on forever and by now even Sonic was beginning to get a little tried. As if it could sense this, the ascension became filled with even more traps and dangers, desperately trying to deter them from proceeding. Shaking off his fatigue, Sonic poured on more speed, using pure agility to defy them all.

Finally they reached the top and rocketed out onto the third level of the spire. To their astonishment and utter horror, there seemed to be no way to continue upwards. Only a single empty space with an impossibly high ceiling, the walls completely smooth; leaving absolutely no chance for an attempt at climbing. As it rose, the walls were lined with grey rings of stone, but those would do little for anyone who wanted to head upwards. Sonic tried Chaos control again, but it seemed to work even less inside the spire than it did in the rest of Radiant Emerald.

"Oh great, what now?" Shadow demanded angrily. Noen of them could see any means of travelling on. This was a dead end. His question was answered when without warning the very ground beneath their feet began to rocket upwards. Like a giant elevation platform they went higher and higher, rocketing towards the ceiling, gaining speed as they travelled. As they rose, they managed to make out that the ceiling above them was littered with crystallised stalactites, glinting in the multicoloured light around them. If they didn't get off this thing then they'd be both squashed and impaled on those things.

Metal Knuckles looked around and with sheer luck, managed to spot a large entrance into the wall just below the deadly trap. If someone could move fast enough then they might be able to slip inside. From outside, Void watched the spire with unblinking eyes. If his estimations were correct, then those fools had reached the halfway point by now. Which means they should be coming up upon that deadly lift Illumina had installed, as part of the security features designed to keep him here.

Just before it slammed into the ceiling, the six of them shot right of the platform and into the opening, narrowly avoiding certain death by mere seconds. The chamber beyond which was little better. They were all hurled into a vent of hot steam that threw them all upwards through a narrow pipe. They must have rocketed up hundreds of feet into the air before they finally reached the end of it, emerging into more dazzling light than they could handle. Sonic held his hand in front of his face, hardly able to see through the blazing flare.

Shadow felt like something had just stabbed itself right through is chest, every ounce of strength he had left hi. What stranglehold Radiant Emerald had over his energy seemed to manifest in one big go, ensnaring him in paralysis. Hardly able to stand, he collapsed to the floor. As he made contact with it, more and more energy left his body.

He'd been right, this place was feeding upon him and if it feed any more, he would inevitably die.

"Shadow, what happened?" Chuck asked, feeling the black and red Hedgehog collapse. He opened his eyes to see what was going on, but the light around him blinded them, forcing them shut again.

"Chuck, what's going on?" Tails asked, trying to look around, holding his arm in front of his face. Metal Knuckles' eyes were not organic and could not be blinded. He simply readjusted his light intact lens and his vision adapted itself accordingly. Now able to see clearly, he found that they were all standing in a large chamber with a high roof like the ones before them, only this ones defensive ability seemed to be blinding them with light to keep them in one place. A singlar large pillar lancing out from the ground to the towering ceiling above.

But why? The reason eluded the robot. Light kept most of them from proceeding, but it was hardly one of the lethal traps they had encountered before. A low buzzing noise began to fill their and Metal Knuckles looked up to see several red orbs descend toward them, these seemed to be made out of pure light themselves, each one at least five meters in length and width. The warps Void had warned them about, these matched their description perfectly.

* * *

(In Chris voice,)

The dangers of the spire continue to block their path. Will Sonic and the others escape Radiant Emerald and how will the manipulative Void use their plight to his advantage? Find out next time on Sonic X, Escape from the Radiant Emerald. Don't miss it!

(R&R)


	39. Episode 20, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X…etc.)

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

* * *

**Last time on Sonic X:**

_Shadow felt like something had just stabbed itself right through is chest, every ounce of strength he had left hi. What stranglehold Radiant Emerald had over his energy seemed to manifest in one big go, ensnaring him in paralysis. Hardly able to stand, he collapsed to the floor. As he made contact with it, more and more energy left his body. _

_He'd been right, this place was feeding upon him and if it feed any more, he would inevitably die. _

_"Shadow, what happened?" Chuck asked, feeling the black and red Hedgehog collapse. He opened his eyes to see what was going on, but the light around him blinded them, forcing them shut again. _

_"Chuck, what's going on?" Tails asked, trying to look around. Metal Knuckles' eye were not organic and could not be blinded. He simply, adjusted his light intact lens and his vision adjusted itself accordingly. No able to see clearly, he found that they were all standing in a large chamber with a high roof like the ones before them, only this ones defensive ability seemed to be blinding them with light to keep them in one place. _

_But why? The reason eluded the robot. Light kept most of them from proceeding, but it was hardly one of the lethal traps they had encountered before. A low buzzing noise began to fill their and Metal Knuckles looked up to see several red orbs descend toward them, these seemed to be made out of pure light themselves, each one at least five meters in length and width. The warps Void had warned them about, these matched their description perfectly._

* * *

**Episode 20**: Escape from the Radiant Emerald

Metal Knuckles pushed his creator out of the way as one of those orbs flew down at them, their deadly edges narrowly missing them by millimetres. Eggman was sent rolling to the side, avoiding certain death. Metal Knuckles himself was not so lucky, the orb picked itself up into the air from the floor again and flew right across his side, catching his right arm. Instantly, it simply vanished as if it had never been there at all, dissolving inside the orb itself. Metal Knuckles wrenched himself free just in him, a good third of his torso missing along with his right arm, sparks flying from the gaping hole.

No one else could see what was happening, the light from the walls was keeping from so much as opening their eyes. It was just too bright for any of them to see a thing, which was part of the trap. While they staggered around completely blinded, the warps would have trouble picking them off, sending them all into none existence. Shadow didn't have much trouble with the light, he could see through it perfectly. But with the entire world around him draining his power of its very life, he could barely struggle to breath. He watched as Metal Knuckles staggered backwards, hardly able to keep his balance with just one arm. The weight of the other one nearly pulling him over and onto the floor. This proved ironic, but the black and red hedgehog was going to have to lend Eggman's robot a hand if any of them were to get out of this alive. And he would have to hurry; more of those red orbs were descending from the ceiling above.

Looking around, he tried to see exactly where the walls were getting their light from. All the other traps had had ways around them; this one had to have some deactivation switch or something. It was then that he noticed that the light itself was not actually coming from the walls, but rather from some thick blue lines that coursed up and down the length of them like blood vessels. Each one pulsating with light, a constant as a heart beat.

Calling on what power he could spare, Shadow fired a small Chaos spear attack straight through the air, smashing into the side of one of them. The effort however left the black and red hedgehog completely drained and he collapsed unconscious. The blue lines bled a thick green liquid that ran down the walls like blood and the light around them pulsated and died.

Sonic rubbed his eyes, blinking to try and restore his sight. When he saw the red orbs above him, he blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, before he dived to the side, knocking Tails and Chuck out of the way.

"I suggest we vacate." Eggman stated, pointing to a set of stairs running around the pillars that stood in the centre of the room. Sonic looked around, seeing Shadow out cold and Metal Knuckles with only one arm and nodded, picking up Chuck and well and racing up towards the ceiling. Dr. Eggman hoisted Shadow onto his shoulder, realizing he might still need the black and red hedgehog to escape from this place, before running fro the stairs as fast as his long legs could carry him. Metal Knuckles distracted the orbs will Eggman made his escape, slamming his remaining clawed arm into the wall, cracks running up and down its length, sending tones of rubble cascading down on top of the warps. It didn't stop them though; the robot could see them eating their way through the substance. He didn't wait for them to continue, with his injury he made his way quickly to the stairs to follow his creator up.

"I though these things were supposed to be in fixed positions!" Sonic snarled, finding another two warps waiting for them halfway up the stairs case.

"Void said only some of them were!" Tails replied as they raced on. Void watched from outside the tower, well aware of their process up the spire. They were almost there now, another few hundred feet and they'd reach its summit. Unfortunately, that place was the most dangerous of all and the odds for them opening the porhole, let alone surviving were extremely small. It was part of Illumina's taunt against him, leaving a way out of Radiant Emerald for him but so laden with danger it would be impossible for him to get up there. It was the way she liked to play with her enemies. It made Void sick.

Fortunately, his cunning made up for any lack in speed.

Shadow forced himself awake, knowing full well that now was an extraordinarily bad time for a nap. To his surprise, he found he was being curried up by Eggman, who was running surprisingly fast with two orbs on his tail, Metal Knuckles right behind them as the robotic Echidna tried desperately to keep up. The black and Red hedgehog was now far too weak to help anyone, but as least he could still warn Eggman verbally.

"DOWN!" Shadow yelled. Eggman looked back just in time to see an orb fly straight at them; ducking as he ran the fat scientist avoided having his head sent into none existence as he flew right over him. Metal Knuckles leapt forward, rebounding off the side of the wall and coming down in front of the orbs and as he fell, he used his claws to slash at the pillar, cutting a large chunk of it out. The rubble of this blocked off those pursuing orbs, giving Eggman a little more ground between them.

Sonic burst out onto the next level of the spire, coming into another chamber, but this one, unlike those before it had a lower ceiling. Around the walls were closed crystal doors, at least seven in all. Sonic was willing to wager that only one lead upwards while all the others lead to deadly and possible fatal traps. Chuck climbed off the blue hedgehog, addressing this puzzle for himself. Eventually, Eggman followed by Metal Knuckles came hurtling up the stairs, the fat scientist now completely out of breath. Eggman hadn't had any exercise since his childhood and any strenuous activity exhausted him.

"Hey what happened to you?" Sonic asked with a cocky smile, seeing that the robotic Echidna was missing a limb.

_"Get lost hedgehog!" _As Sonic continued to taunt the robot, Chuck examined the room further, trying to see if there were any clues for them to use. There had to be something here to help them. The room itself was completely empty, only emerald walls with a low arched ceiling remained. A large spike with curved sides lancing out of the very centre of the floor. Chuck realized quickly that that had to be significant and walked over to it, studying its curved flat sized in detail. There were seven of them and each one was directed towards one of the doors around them. Jagged cut lines in the floor ran from the spike to each door; that had to be important as well. Just was Chuck was on the verge of discovered it, Eggman simply walked up to one of the door sand flung it open. Sonic didn't even have time to yell stop before two red robs flew out from behind the door, one catching half of Eggman's moustache in itself, giving him lopsided facial hair.

Sonic dodged to the side, avoiding one as it lunged at him. Tails was in the air at once, using his unique method of flying to avoid being erased fro existence, keeping well out of the range of those warps. Shadow however was a sitting duck; he couldn't move a muscle, never mind get out of the way. He just lay, struggling to move as one of the orbs flew right down at him. Sonic ran right across its flight path, grabbing Shadow around the arms and pulling him out of harms way. Sensing the speed, both orbs about faced and charged right at the blue hedgehog.

Dumping Shadow with Chuck, Sonic provided himself as a division, luring the orbs away from the others. Picking a door completely at random, the blue hedgehog raced inside, finding that his luck had held out and he'd chosen the right passageway. A spiralling passageway that wound itself up and up the interior of the spire, more and more orbs all around him as he ran sensed his presence, twitched violently before flying away him. Sonic had at least five on his tail now.

The blue hedgehog had been making good progress, that is until he nearly hurled himself off a sharp ledge and into the air outside the spire itself. Without realizing it, he had ended up outside a balcony, a thinkable distance in the air. Turning back, he found his path blocked by a swarm of those orbs.

Trapped between none existence and a very long fall, Sonic really wished Chaos Control worked here. To his dismay, he could see absolutely no way out of this situation. He tried to think positively, that he had been in worse scenarios, but then realized that this was one of the worst situations he could possibly get himself into. As if his mind was trying to distract him from his plight, Sonic felt a familiar twinge in the air and instantly he knew what it was. It was Chaos Energy, he felt the same twinge whenever he used a chaos emerald or a ring.

Finally Sonic understood exactly what Radiant Emerald was. What it was supposed to be. It **_was_** a giant Chaos Emerald, just like Shadow had described it. And the power emitting slowly from it was exactly the same was that of all seven chaos Emeralds, maybe even more so. A large smirk crossed the blue hedgehog's faced and he turned back to face the swarming orbs that hovered there, waiting for the right moment to lunge at him.

"You gave me a good run." Sonic admitted, clenching both fists, spreading his arms out wide. "But this game is over." And with that, he called on the power this entire dimension radiated. Praying that he was right or this was going to be a very short fight.

Similar to the power of all seven Chaos emeralds, it flowed directly into his body, filling him with familiar strength and power. Golden light radiated away from his very being as his blue fur turned to a chrome gold. Shadow struggled to his knees in the chamber below, looking up at the light that pierced the very material that the spire was made out of. Just as Radiant Emerald fed on his energy, this new source of power was filling him with new strength, prolonging his existence. For that he was extremely grateful Sonic closed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest, his quills going erect being his head.

Void watched from the ground below, the golden pinnacle of light above confusing him. In all his years in this chaotic place, he had never seen an effect like this before.

"Just what is that"? He asked himself, peering closer. Sonic's eyes shot open; changed from emerald green to a blood red.

Raidant Emerald itself fuelling him, Super Sonic felt more powerful that he'd ever been, but no amount of power would be able to help him against things that could eras him with existence at the mere touch. Descending the option, but realizing it was the only one open to him. He would have to run.

Void had to shield his eyes as a flare of light radiated from near the tip of the spire and Super Sonic with Shadow and the others held tightly into his force field flew straight upwards, scrambling for the spire and the way out of his dimension. Every warp in the spire close on their tail.

"You need to go faster." Chuck yelled over the roar of the air around them. "If we don't hit the top going over the speed of sound we're done for." Super Sonic nodded and poured on more speed, all those in the field thrown back against its barrier by the shockwave. Void's mouth went dry and he could fell his heart beating widely in his chest. This was the moment of truth. With wide eyes he watched the golden hedgehog poured upwards, a swarm of red following him. The orbs found that they couldn't keep up with Super Sonic and some fell behind, others maintained a strange revolve and pressed on, pushing everything they had into catching up with the intruders. Racing the walls of the spire, Super Sonic put everything he had into increasing his spire, coming dangerously close on the tip now, a vertical spike that lanced high into the air. Those orbs would be all over them in an instant if he failed. There was only enough time for one shot as this.

"Come on…" Void muttered, eyes wide in anticipation. Tails watched as the tip, a single point of light marking the top came near and nearer. He couldn't bear to watch and closed his eyes.

With one, earth shattering boom, Super Sonic broke the sound barrier on the very tip of the spire. The light on the pinnacle suddenly lancing out across the entire length of Radiant Emerald, all the red robs caught in its rays dissipating into nothing. Void's eyes widened almost in disbelief, his mouth hung open in exclamation. It had finally happened. He was free.

The shockwave from the boom radiated out from the spire, the noise vibrating the emerald structures around him so much that one by one they began to shatter. The star light sky above began to crack like an earthquake was spreading through it, parts of the illusion falling down.

The spire itself began to shaking violently, before parts of it began to fall down, smashing into the emerald ground below. Void let his head roll back and he laughed as his prison crumbled all around him. Radiant Emerald shattered piece by piece and the entire dimension collapsed, replaced by a complete flare of white.

* * *

Queen Illumina looked up, sensing the sudden change in the fabric of existence. Almost like a distract scream in her divine ears. Her long green hair flowing out behind her, she rose from her throne, her violet feathered wings spreading out behind her. Her eyes narrowed as he paused to sense exactly what had happened and when she discovered what it was, she sighed out load. She though it might happen one of these days, Void's resolve was absolute, there was no deterring him. The angel had fair violet skin, her wings a darker shade, several blue steaks like tattoos running down her arms and thin legs. Her hand trailed up and her finger pulsated with a sudden golden light that disappeared as soon as he was summoned. There was a brief shimmering in the air around her as one of the angel's greatest servants manifested. Her being was smaller than herself, about the same height was void with bright blue eyes and insect like wings spreading out her back. Most of her slim body was hidden by her clothes, a tight fitting white and pink jumpsuit and a pair of golden bracelets around her wrists. She was strangely slim, her suit flattering her figure. She bowed in the presence of her queen, descending to one knee.

"Lumina FlowLight." The angel said, whispering her name into the sweet air of MaginaryWorld. Her throne room within the temple of light, the centre of that dimension was a tall oval shaped room with a ceiling so high it was near impossible to see the ending to it from the floor. The walls and floor was made up of segmented square grey stones, each one engraved with decorsative patturns. Water run down the walls between each one and into a large ringed pit in the very centre of the room and within the centre itself was the throne.

"I hate to put you through this, but I'm afraid that time has finally come." The small creature's eyes widened, meeting with Illumina's own eyes, wide and gold with a red centre.

"Void." Lumina began sadly. The angel nodded in reluctant confirmation.

"Yes. Radiant Emerald is no more." Lumina rose from her bow and stood there silently for a moment, looking thoughtful. "You were once his best friend." Her queen continued. "If he would listen to anyone, it would be you." The small fairly like creature looked up in surprise. "Be warned through." Illumina added. "If you can not sway him then I must take steps to stop his anger once and for all." She left that hanging in the air, the ominous meaning all too clear.

"I understand my queen." Lumina stated, before vanishing into a white haze.

* * *

Flip card 1

Name: Super Sonic

Age: 17

Species: Hedgehog.

Description: When Sonic absorbs enough Chaos Energy he transforms into his golden form, becoming exceptionally powerful and fast.

(R&R)


	40. Episode 20, part 2

**(I do not own Sonic X etc.)-I'm updating this quicker because I've got a lot of work coming up and I won't be able to update any other time)**

* * *

**Flip card 1:**

**Name:** Lumina Flowlight

**Age:** Ageless

**Sex:** Female

**Description:** Chief servant of queen of MaginaryWorld, Guardian angel of the Precious stone.

* * *

A single chime sounded and Sonic opened his eyes. Radiant Emerald, the strange chaotic dimension around them had vanished completely. Pushing himself up to a sitting position, the blue hedgehog found himself once more in relatively familiar surroundings. He rubbed the back of his head absently, blinking as he stared around the roof of Chuck's garage on the Thorndyke estate. The sky overhead was clouded the low rumble of an approaching storm on the horizon. After a brief moment of silence, something cold fell on the end of Sonic's nose. The blue hedgehog looked up and it began to snow. Slowly he pushed himself to his feet, looking around. 

He saw no sign of any of those who'd been pulled into Radiant Emerald with him. His breath froze in his throat. What if he'd been the only one sent back and the others were still trapped in that dimension with those fatal orbs. Silently, he slid down off the roof and down to the ground below, landing in a snow bank pushed against the back of the building. Speeding around to the front of the garage, he found the door open and Chuck's car missing.

"Hello?" He called up inside but nobody replied. Ascending the ladder and pushing the trap door open, the found the above apartment deserted as well. Although it was obvious someone had been here recently, Chuck's tools were spread out everywhere with a fresh puddle of oil on the floor. Although he was aware it couldn't have been Chuck, he'd been in Radiant Emerald with them.

Sonic found the main house itself empty too. Not even Elle or Mr. Tanaka was here taking care of the household. The blue hedgehog eventually wound up in front of the estate scratching his head. Just where was everyone? There was a sudden load groaning sound and Sonic looked directly to his left, sighting to busy orange tails sticking out of the line of bushes that ran alongside the fence. "Hey Tails you ok?" he asked, pulling the twin tailed fox out, his fur completely covered in leaves and twigs.

"I think so." He replied, scrapping some of it out of his tails. "Are we back, did it work?"

"I think so." Sonic looked around again. Everything seemed so grey and miserable, hardly anything like the uptown apart of Station Square he was used to. Not even a single car was driving by. It was like the entire upper district of the city was deserted, the streets devoid of a single soul. It was like everyone had bailed out of here at once. "You didn't see Shadow or the others have you?" Tails shook his head. Sonic pushed his lips together, looking thoughtful. "Maybe they got left behind or something." The snow intensified into a fast fall and the blue hedgehog quills sagged with the weight of it. Tails shook himself to dislodge some that seeped into his fur.

"Where is everybody?" The fox asked as the two of them made their way down the street towards the city interior, failing to sight anyone as they walked. The silence was broken only by the busy honking of traffic from the city itself. That was some small comfort, knowing that at least the place wasn't completely deserted. Eventually they found themselves amongst the sky scrappers, the streets now full of traffic making a terrible noise. Everyone here it seemed was trying to get somewhere. The city was the verge of near chaos, overworked police desperately trying to direct the steady flow of vehicles around the streets. Some of the cars were towing RV's and trailers, some with baggage tied to the roof.

Sonic and Tails, finding the streets now too congested to use, raced to the top of a sky scrapper so they could see the city itself better. From that birds eyes view, they could see plenty of G.U.N Mech Walkers patrolling the harbour, the Flying Dog models escorting large tanker like ships into port. Laser hunter robots, the militaries latest foot soldiers were standing erect on the side walks like an occupying force. To Sonic, it appeared as if the entire city had been placed under martial law.

"Just what happened here?" The blue hedgehog asked himself. This was getting way out of hand now. Military choppers filled the sky, flying across the entire length of the city itself. From here, Tails could see fortifications being constructed in various locations. Some of which looked a tad excessive, such was large turrets towering like a ten story building around the outside edge of the city.

Without warning there was a sudden flash of green light emerging from a single point behind them and the two turned in exclamation to see Shadow emerge out of a Chaos Control warp, Chuck hanging on his back for dear life.

"Ah." He began, stretching himself out. "That feels much better. Chaos Control works again."

"Great, then it worked." Sonic stated, folding his arms with a coy look on his face. "But have you seen Eggman or that Metal Knuckles?" Shadow shook his head.

"Maybe we lucked out and they got stuck in Radiant Emerald." Was his reply as he joined Sonic by his side and stared out across the city. "We've been gone for over a week." He added sharply, giving the two of them a side long glance.

"What?!" Sonic exclaimed. "We were only in Radiant Emerald for a few hours." Chuck picked himself up and shook his head, folding his arms.

"To us, it only appeared like a few hours, but I believe inside Radiant Emerald, temporal continuality was stretched to a point were time itself moved at a slower rate. Probably due to the excessive amount of chaos energy floating freely in that dimension." Sonic stared at him, his expression showing clearly that he had absolutely no idea what Chuck had just said. "Inside Radiant Emerald we all moved in slow motion." He added, trying to wrap it up in single sentence.

"And while we were gone, a lot happened." Shadow put in, slipping himself over the end and sitting down on the edge of the building. "It seems after we disappeared, Eggman's robots attacked the city. G.U.N placed it under their direct jurisdiction. A lot of people aren't happy about that." Sonic looked down at the traffic below and how could see people leaning out their windows, cursing at the occupying mechanoids as they drove past.

"Here, read this." Chuck said; handing Tails a newspaper that Shadow had picked up after arriving back. The date written on the top was indeed a week a bit later from the date set for the finals of Emerald Grand Prix.

The fox held it in front of himself, skimming through the words. The large headline at the top of the front page was '_G.U.N TAKES THE STREETS.' _

"But that doesn't make any sense." Sonic began, looking more confused now than he had a few moments ago. "Eggman was inside Radiant Emerald with us, he couldn't have sent his robots to attack Station Square." Tails looked up briefly, before ignoring Sonic's comment and reading on. According to the report, after the attack, G.U.N forced had moved directly into the city without Presidential permission, turning Station Square from a popular civilian destination to a fortified position intended to be used in the war against the Eggman Empire. A lot of people were trying to leave but G.U.N forces were not letting them beyond the city perimeters. No one was to be allowed in or out until construction had been completed. "Look at this place, it's like they're turning it into some kind of base." Sonic added sourly. Shadow heisted and then looked out across the city and the construction that was underway of military technicians, assisted by the large Mech Walkers.

"I think that's exactly what they're doing." He stated, narrowing his eyes. Sonic cast him a glance for a moment, before turning back to look out again.

"This is outrageous." Chuck commented, folding his arms. "G.U.N had no right to hold civilians prisoner like this and without permission from the Government as well. Who do they think they are?" Sonic was quick to realize that this crisis wasn't one that could solve simply with his fists, although he felt more than inclined to race down there and rip those robots limb from limb. Piloting those things were soldiers, who were only following orders.

"You haven't seen Amy or the others have you?" Shadow shook his head in reply.

"But if they're anywhere, I think I know where to find them." He added quickly, standing up again. "Come on, let's go see." The black and red hedgehog held out his hand and Sonic took it, their combined energies linking into a small Chaos Control warp that swallowed the two others within itself and transported them away from the rooftops, through time and space to land directly within the Mystic Ruins on the other side of the bay. In the winter cold, the Mystic Ruins was coated in a thick blanket of snow, all the leaves had fallen already, leaving the forests devoid of any colour.

As the white haze faded, Sonic could see they were now standing near the edge of a cliff face overlooking Station Square. From here, he could see all the military vessels going in and out of the harbour, bringing with them both materials for construction and in some cases, even unloading more Mech's. The cliff face they were one was nearly on the doorstep of Tails' workshop, the building jutting out into the air a short distance away. From here, they could all see a light turned in the kitchen area window.

"Someone's home." Sonic remarked, making his way through the leafless trees towards the light. Reaching the door, he found himself pausing for a moment before pushing it open. Tails was the first one inside, shivering in the cold. Unlike Sonic who could maintain his body temperature in relatively any climate, Tails' thick fur was all that was keeping him from freezing to death outside. Sonic was about to step inside when a pink blur came flying out of nowhere, tackling him to the ground, two arms already around him an air tight, bear hug. Shadow side stepped as the two of them skidded along the ground, outside through the front door and into a pile of snow across the path.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Amy demanded, pinning herself to him like a limpet. Sonic tried to choke a reply but her grip was so tight all that came out of his mouth were raspy whispers.

Chuck pushed past them and entered the workshop itself, finding Chris and the staff from the estate here. Ella was in the kitchen with Vanilla and Cream cooking something that after that long day smelled very appealing. Emerl was there as well, the robot simply refused to leave Cream's side. Mr. Tanaka seemed to be just standing around, apparently distracted from something by their arrival. Metal Sonic was in the corner with Amy's hero Chao Turel sitting on his lap, a funny looked on the robotic hedgehog's face.

"Grandpa!" Chris exclaimed, up from the sofa when he saw Chuck come in. "You're alright!" he rushed across the room and gave his grandfather a hug.

"Last time I checked I was."

"It is good to see you again Mr. Thorndyke." Tanaka stated with a polite bow, his face was emotionless as ever. Eventually, Amy loosened her grip on Sonic and the two of them managed to get inside, shutting the door on the cold behind them.

"And just where were you people?" Elle asked, looking slightly annoyed. "You know how worried we got when you disappeared?" Amy added to that by tightening her hug again, refusing to let go of the blue hedgehog.

"It wasn't our choice, let me tell you." Shadow began sourly. Each of them took turns telling the bizarre tale, ending up in Radiant Emerald with the strange creature Void before attempting a life threatening dash up the spire avoiding the red orbs that would destroy with but the simplest touch. Amy wasn't listening to a word of it; she was still clinging onto Sonic like a wet towel. Cream, who was always enticed by the good story, was sitting there with Emerl, her imagined fired up by the descriptions Chuck gave of Radiant Emerald with its glowing crystallised structures. "As for what happened to Eggman…" Shadow said after Sonic had descried in great detail of their race up the spire, a race that nearly killed them in the process. "He simply disappeared when he got back here, we couldn't find him anywhere."

_"Maybe he as his robot are still in Radiant Emerald?"_ Metal Sonic queried. Sonic shook his head.

"Eggman's bounced back from worst, I doubt we'll ever get rid of him that easily."

_"SIR!"_ Decoe exclaimed as Dr. Eggman walked onto the bridge of the Egg Carrier 3 for the first time in a week, a sour look on his face. Both the hence robots stood to attention, saluting the scientist as he crossed over and sat down in his throne. The ends of his moustache dripping wet and it was clear that he had changed his clothes. Both he and Metal Knuckles had existed Radiant Emerald, although both of them had emerged off the coastline where Decoe and Becoe had landed the Egg Carrier 3. Eggman was not pleased. _"Where have you been sir, we're been looking over half the countryside for you."_

"Never mind!" The scientist snarled, shivering slightly. The sea water had been exceptionally cold. Metal Knuckles was in the workshop for repairs, Tails Doll had been near ruined and on top of that he had a cold. He sneezed violently, coming to the conclusion his participation in the Emerald Grand Prix had not been profitable.

"So what happened here?" Tails asked in almost a rush after being handed a hot mug of coco by Elle. "Why is G.U.N ruling the city with an Iron fist?"

_"Eggman's robots came flying out of across the bay." _Metal Sonic replied before any of them could reply. _"They attacked the beach resort, a whole swarm of them. Since I was there I did my best to drive them off but there were too many for me to handle. If G.U.N Walker's hadn't turned up at the last moment they could haveinfested the city." _Shadow narrowed his eyes.

"Rather convenient that they suddenly turned up." He muttered to himself, looking thoughtful.

_"After the battle however, Marital law was declared and they started constructing those turrets around the buildings. The President's been ordering them time and time again to leave but they just ignore him. He's a step away from declaring the whole lot of them traitors and having them arrested." _Metal Sonic continued

"They've promised to end the occupation when they finish though." Vanilla put in. "Which shouldn't be long, they're nearly finished by the look of it. If Cream and I hadn't been here at the time, we'd have been trapped in there like the rest of them." Sonic smacked a fist into an open palm, thinking that maybe taking a little frustration out on some G.U.N Mech's wasn't such a bad idea after all. It was then that he remembered that Amy was still clinging onto him, her face buried in his neck.

"Hey Amy, you can let go now." He began, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Sorry." She sniffed, finally releasing him. "I was just so worried." She blinked, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, and we've got something for you." Tanaka went over to the kitchen area and picked up a small jewellery box, returning with it to the sofa. After being passed it, Sonic flipped the lid open and came face to face with the purple Chaos Emerald, the prize for taking first place in the Grand Prix.

"You mean you won?" Tails asked, stating the obvious. Metal Sonic nodded in confirmation. "Who raced in Sonic's place then?" Sonic however already had an idea exactly who had done it and eh turned to look at Amy, who was sitting her with the largest smug long imaginable on her face. Without even thinking about it, he leaned over aand hugged her.

* * *

Void paused just long enough to breath in the atmosphere of this new plane of existance, fresh, cool and crisp, hardly anything like the stale air of Radiant Emerald. Freedom was more vitalizing and refreshing than he remembered. With that crystallized dimension gone, his restraints had been torn away. He felt the cold air blow through his hair and a large smile crossed his eyes. Floating high above some mountain range, thick blankets of snow on the summits below, the distant calls of mountain goats on the wind. Void was quick to realize that when Super Sonic had unwittingly destroyed Radiant Emerald, the small imp like creature must have been pulled along with him to the same dimension, for this was merged world, Mobius and Earth. IT matter little what dimension he was in now. As a trans-dimension being he could shift between them at will, and his destination did not lie here. Now was the time show Illumina just who she was messing with. 

"I'm sorry Void." A voice stated. "But I can't let you proceed." The imp swung around, facing the one person he did not expect to find here. Lumina Flowlight, chief servant to the deity Illumina hung in the air behind him, holding his silver staff in one hand, a steadfast look on her face. Seeing her again, after forty years, Void nearly lost his composure by his pride quickly reasserted itself and he managed a frown.

"Stay out of my way Lumina, I don't want to hurt you but I will if I must to achieve my goals." The finger on his cloven hands arched, two orbs of life-force energy burning in-between them. These were merely intended for show, none of them had the power to harm Lumina. Not that void would ever attack her, not even if she allied herself with his enemy; he cared for her to much.

"No." She stated simply, hovering closer to him, holding his staff out in a battle position. "I will not let you harm my Mistress." Void's frown descended into a grim sneer. There was silence between the two of them for at least several moments on that, the level of hostility in the air rising to dangerous heights. Finally, Void's clenched both fist and the two orbs dissipated. He breathed out loudly, looking agitated.

"Why put this charade on Lumina, we both know that neither of us could ever harm the other." The fairy like creature hesitated, before a small smile crossed her face and he lowered her weapon.

"Please Void. This is one of the few moments we may have left if you continue down your path. Illumina states that if I am not able to persuade you to stop then she will take steps herself." Void's sneer turned into a smirk.

"Let her." He replied forcefully. "She'll not stop me, not with her lies and not with her none existent power." Lumina seemed to take that personally, flying up in his face with anger in her eyes.

"Illumina dose not lie and nor is her power none existent." She stated crossly. Void floated backwards, folding his arms behind his back.

"Not true." He replied coyly. "Perhaps in time you will see the truth, but for now anyway we are enemies." Lumina slumped her shoulders at those words, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. Void sighed, sensing her feelings. "I do not wish to bring harm to anyone, but I will do what I must." Lumina was silent for a moment.

"Why must you?" She asked. Void, who had his back to her, turned to give her a look over his shoulder.

"Because if I do not, who else will reveal the truth?" He paused and Lumina would see near unrivalled sadness in his starlight eyes. "They'll be a day when all this ends, I promise you. Tell Illumina you failed to sway me, I was expecting her to send her servants after me soon enough anyway." Lumina stayed perfectly still for a few seconds before a thin tear trickled down her cheek.

"Goodbye Void." She replied before her form shimmered in the air and then completely disappeared. Void was left floating there, his stomach churning silently.

"Goodbye, Lumina."

* * *

**In Chris' voice**

(The Grand Prix is over and Void is sure to cause trouble in the future. Captain Okida is a heap of trouble and Chaotix's got a new member when the **Rei**** saga** begins, next time on Sonic X; A Spanner in the works. Don't miss it!)

**(R&R)**

---------------------------------------------------

_(End of Saga notes :) _

Few that was one hell of a long saga, six whole episodes like the Emerl one. Two more Saga's left**_. (Reached 40 chaps….whohoo!)_**

Sorry people, but the Sonic Shuffle Saga will start in the beginning to the sequel story coming as soon as I reach 26 episodes. So you'll have to wait for that one, but the next two saga's are going to have new characters and a lot of surprises in them, you have my word on that one. (Keep in mind that I haven't played Sonic shuffle myself, but I'm tinkering around with the storyline to fit my story. From what I heard of Sonic Shuffle, it was a pretty awful game, but the concept idea's can be salvaged from it.)

So what you think of my R saga? Let me know in the reviews. Be honest.

Seems I have a lot of people hanging on my new chapters, when I started writing this series I didn't think that many people would be reading it. Please review,I enjoy hearing what others think of my work.

A step up from that would be people writing fiction to go with my fic: but it's a dream...


	41. Episode 21, part 1

(A note to ; How the hell do you keep guessing what saga's I'm planning on doing?)

---------------

S.O.N.I.C

S.O.N.I.C

GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!

**The Rei Saga**

Episode 21: The Spanner in the Works

--------------

Several large planes adapted to carry at least several of the large G.U.N walkers were due to arrive at Area 99 any minute now. They were to arrive at o-six hundred hours to pick up several of the new Dead Shot Walkers for deployment to various bases for combat. It was hoped that with these units, a better defence against the Eggman Empire could be established. The Walker's prototype had done very well in it's test run.

At the hanger on the far end of the base, as the three huge hanger planes made their decent towards the runways, a technician who'd happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time fell to the ground as a sharp whack to the back of his head knocked him unconscious. As he fell, the mobian who'd dealt the blow quickly hurried over him towards the large Mechanoids which stood nearly completely unsupervised. All of them had been painted in various different camouflage colours ranging from jungle green to desert gold.

He had to hurry through, the security team would be in here in moments to help transfer the walkers to the planes. If he wanted to make off with one and get away with it, now was his last chance. To verify their safety and eliminated the nagging fear in his mind, he removed the two disks crammed full of information that he had downloaded from General Saddler's personal computer systems. He sighed in partial relief before replacing them and climbing the metal ladder towards the cockpit. The glass shield swung open as he released the control handle and with one swift flipped he was into the pilot's seat, his seat belt down up.

The alarms all over the base went off all at once and a second later, A missile shattered the large lock down door. Admits the smoke and momentary confusion, the fast Walker flew out of the hanger and out onto the runway. Two Big Foot walkers turned to see what was going on and a barrage of machine gun fire riddled their legs, rendering them useless. As the two large machines crashed to the ground, immobilised, The base security called out it's Flying Dog attack drones, all remotely controlled by the main computer system in the control tower. These units were designed for mauve ability, but the Dead Shot was built to take full advance of all the traits of the three obsolete walkers.

The two large missile launcher pads on each side opened up and a swarm of red flares shot forward catching the first Flying Dogs as they came over the top of the base to assess the situation.

"That's one of the Dead Shots." The base commander stated, finally getting a picture from one of their Beetle units. "Bring out the others, subdue that Walker."

"We can't sir." Someone from the technicians bay called over. "Whoever's piloting that Mech gutted the other Dead Shots. They're all but useless now." The commander grunted in annoyance.

"Well bring out the Hot Shot's, do not let him get away." Even while he was saying it, the large Walker was running across runway towards the wasteland just beyond the base perimeter. The pilot knew that he'd be easily picked up out there, but if he could get to the forest just a few miles away, then he could hide until the coast was clear. By the time he reached the end of the runway, the Hot shot's which were the fastest of three Mobile Walker types were already on their way towards him. Also, hence their name, these walkers had a large laser cannon on their fronts. In his rear screens, the pilot could see that there were at least ten to fifth teen Walkers following him. The sound of helicopter blades began to fill the air as they scrambled attack choppers to intercept him.

The Dead Shot's feet large metal sank into the sand as it ran, slowing it's pace, but the fast Walker kept going. The sand dune ahead would give it a little protection from hostile fire, giving him a good head start. A loud chorus of bullets cursed the air as several fast choppers shot past him, pillars of sand erupting from the desert floor as they narrowly missed. The pilot cursed. He was running out of time. He could simply shoot them down, with this Walker that was easy. But they were G.U.N soldiers only following orders he couldn't do that.

"Attention, this is Hot Shot Squadron Leader to hostile Walker. Surrender at once and return to base, if you do not comply, we will open fire." The voice over the radio snapped.

"Sorry, not an option." The pilot replied, before turning off the com device so he didn't have to hear the verbal reply. As he expected, a second later the Hot Shots which by now were within firing range launching an intense barrage of laser fire at him. The sand dune helped to shield him as the walker ran, it's upper body occasionally rotating around to fire a few warning shots at them.

The radar showed that the rest of those Choppers were nearly here, if those caught up with him he'd be riddled with bullets and that would be the end of that. The pilot looked up towards the horizon, there was no way he was going to make it to the forest's coverage in time, unless he did something quite drastic that is. A loud bleeping caught his attention and the controls revealed at the Walker was about to overheat as well. This walker hadn't been equipped with heat protection yet, he'd taken a crippled mech.

That was all he needed. An overheated engine. He paused, that gave him an idea. Instantly the onboard blue prints of the Walker flashed up on the internal screen. While this machine didn't have adequate heat project, it did have an exhaust port.

The Walker opened it's vents, thick white steam pouring out into the early morning air. The hot steam reacted with the cold air and a thick, blanketing fog bellowed forth and the Hot Shot's ceased fire, their targeting sensors no longer able to lock onto the Dead Shot's heat signature. Even the Attack Choppers, which were moments aware, were finding it impossible to find the rouge Walker. By the time the steam cleared, the Dead Shot had disappeared, a line of deep foot prints leading off towards the forest in the distance.

-----------------------------

"Pr. President, we have a grave situation sir." Michael, who by now was used to being woken up at three o Clock in the morning to deal with some crisis of nation security was sitting at his desk in the Oval Office as General Saddler, current head of G.U.N operations walked in with two officers beside him. "Early today an intruder inside Area 99 made off with one of our Dead Shot Walkers and several top secret files." The president looked up hopefully, looking a little stunned by the news.

"The spy?" He asked in a hurry, nearly knocking his mug over. The general nodded. It looked like the Eggman Empire agent that they had trying to up route for so long had revealed himself, at least now Captain Okida's theory of an agent could be verified. Now all that needed to be done was chasing him down, recover the Walker and the files. "Do we have any idea who it is?"

"I'm afraid so sir." Micheal raised an eyebrow at the generals' rather strange tone of voice, before Saddler passed him the clip board he had under his arm. On which there were print outs of stills taken from the security camera's inside Area 99's Walker bay. They showed a Mobian bat with large leathery wings sabotaging several Walkers before stealing the last remaining workable one. The President's eyes widened, recognising the Mobian in each photo.

"This is Captain Okida!" he stated sharply, looking up in disbelief. The General nodded solemnly.

"Freelance division has reported the Captain missing for over twenty four hours." The General rose form his chair and began passing the room.

"Okida the Imperial Agent? It doesn't make any sense." He ran his wingers through his hair, trying to make sense of it all. "He was the one who informed us of the possibly of a spy in the first place." The general shrugged.

"Perfect cover, no one would suspect him then." Michael sat down again, drumming his fingers on the table, trying to think of what he could do. "Sir, he had access to information that in Eggman's hands could prove…"

"Alright." The President said slowly. "Find him, but I don't want him harmed, we have to detain the Captain for questioning."

"Of course Mr. President."

----------------------

"Police are urging citizens, that if they see this mobian, they are not to approach him. He is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous." The report had been on the news for the last three hours, on nearly every news channel. While Okida was not being labelled as a traitor for fear of a spread of panic, they were saying that he was wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a government Walker. Vector had been watching it all from his new office, in Chaotix's new base of operations. The winnings from the Emerald Grand Prix had cleared all their debts and left enough for them to move out of a shabby room downtown and into a luxurious high rise apartment overlooking the harbour.

As promise, once construction of Station Square's new defences had been completed, all G.U.N forces had moved out of the city. However their efforts had left the whole place looking less attractive than it had been. Massive turrets stood were condemned buildings had once been, towering high into the air, each one had two large barrels capable of firing a short but deadly barrage of laser fire. These were just part of the technology G.U.N scientists had been able to salvage from the Egg Fleet and also just part of the ugly defences the military had constructed. But if they were to help the city defend itself again the Empire than Vector supposed he could live with them obstructing the view now and then.

The crocodile chuckled and put his feet up on the large desk in front of him, leaning back in his new expensive leather chair. His name if engraved letters stood out on the bronze plate sitting at the front of his deck. His office was a large, spacious oval shaped room with a set of window doors opening out onto a balcony. A silver ceiling fan rotating slowly above him. An expensive set of potted plants and trees placed around the outside edge, giving a very professional feel about it.

And this wasn't even their only room. They had an outside corridor and several sides rooms which included a kitchen and separated bedrooms for all of them. And even with all this, they still had money to spare. Vector couldn't contain his joy, let out a loud cry of happiness and spun around in his chair. So this was easy street. He'd heard so many stories, but never through he'd be here in person.

Vector pressed the button on his intercom, then paused. An intercom, like the kind those big men of business use. His head was swimming.

"Espio, a moment please." Almost at once, the ninja chameleon began visible again and dropped down to the floor from the ceiling. "Must you do that?" Vector asked. Espio shrugged.

"I'm a ninja." Was his simple reply. "Look, make it quick, I'm still trying to make the organisation sound appealing to people with the slightest bit of ambition." The crocodile narrowed his eyes at me disapprovingly.

"Take a look at this." He began, turning the small television set on his desk around so Espio could get a good look at the screen. The news report about the renegade G.U.N officer with a stolen walker was still on. Espio watched it sceptically for a couple of moments before crossing his arms. "Isn't that that guy we raced against in the Tournament?"

"Think of the publicity if we bring him in alive." The chameleon cocked his head.

"They're not even offering a reward." Vector turned of the set.

"There's more to life than money." Espio was completely silent, staring at the crocodile with wide eyes.

"Ok…" He began slowly. "Who are you, and what you done with the real Vector?" An unimpressed frown crossed Vector's large scaly lips and he slammed his hands down on the desk.

"Look we have a large amount of money from the races, but that won't pay the bills forever." He slapped his hands together. "If we're to get into big business, then we have to advertise our deductive skills to the world. And tracking this criminal might just be the way to do it." There was a loud screeching sound followed by the familiar shattering of a plant pot outside the office door. The two of them could see the silhouette of a potted tree outside fall to the ground through the window in the top of the door. Vector cringed and hide his eyes behind a hand, groaning. On que, Charmee came bellowing through the door, tumbling through the air and straight into Espio, knocking the two of them over into a great big heap. "Can we help you?" The crocodile asked, leaning over the edge of his desk to give Charmee a long hard glare.

"Oh VectorVectorVectorVectorVectorVectorVectorVectorVectorVector." Charmee began said in a rush, buzzing around the crocodiles head once he pulled himself off the floor. "There's a guy outside." Vector waited for the bee to continue but only silence, disturbed by the buzzing of Charmee's wings endured.

"And?" The crocodile asked eventually.

"Andhesayshewantstojoin!" Charmee blurted that last bit out sp fast it took several seconds for either Espio or Vector to decipher it.

"Join?" Espio repeated, scratching the back of his head. "I hadn't even advertised that we were hiring yet." Vector rubbed his hands together with glee. Apparently, news of their organisation had gotten around quicker than even he had imagined.

"Show him in." He added, sitting back down in his chair. "Let's see if he has any talent." Charmee nodded an in a flash he was gone. The door flapped widely as he buzzed past it, showing the plant he'd knocked over on his arrival. "Espio, Remind me to hire a cleaner later." Vector added, rolling his eyes.

Charmee quickly returned with a mobian following closely behind. He was a flying squirrel, with golden fur and bright brown eyes. A short quiff to head fur stood up straight on the top of his head, another two falling over his eyes. Thin stretches of skin lined edge side of his body, running from his arms to his legs. A long flat tail training out behind him. Like most mobians, he wore gloves and sneakers. His footwear was blue in colour, with a metal rim around the toes. A large golden buckle lined a white stripped that ran vertically up each shoes, very much like Sonic's old pair. Apart from this, we was also wearing canvas yellow shirt that hung loosely around his shoulders.

"Hey." He said with a smile, raising a hand in greeting. His voice showing that he was younger than eighteen. "Name's Rei." Espio and Vector exchanged a glance before turning back.

"Good to have you here." Vector began. "I'm Vector, the head of this organisation. My comrade over here is Espio and our hyperactive friend is Charmee."

"He says you're interested in joining." Espio started slowly.

"YesheisYesheisYesheisYesheisYesheisYesheis." The bee began in a chorus, buzzing around the room.

"Charmee, you still have to organise our moving paperwork." Vector sighed. The bee saluted in mid air before disappearing again.

"I've already done it." Espio began. Vector winked at him.

"I know." He replied with a s mug smile before turning back to their guest. "Well are you, interested in joining?" Rei smiled, putting his arms behind his head.

"Sure." Was his simple reply. Vector put his forefinger and thumb to the end of his snout.

"Got any experience in detective work?" He hesitated. "Apart from watching Sherlock homes movies?" Rei paused, scratching the side of his chin for a moment.

"Well…" He began slowly. "I do help the police a lot with their cases." Espio and Vector gave each other another glance. "I helped send a dangerous drug dealer to prison for twenty years." Vector blinked. He remembered reading about that in the paper. This guy, he forgot his name, was supposedly shipping in a tanker full of powder. He would have walked if the police hadn't found evidence of smuggling in his organisation. He came out his daze and looked the squirrel over. Of course Vector couldn't simply take his word that he helped. "I can tell you don't believe me." It pointed at their faces. "You paused for precisely five seconds, narrowing your eyes in a disapproving way." Vector blinked again in confusion. "Oh, and your bee friend found no paperwork for him and will be back in five seconds."

"What are you…" Espio began before Charmee came flying into the room, nearly colliding with Vector's desk.

"I found the paperwork Vector." The bee began quickly. "But someone had already done it."

"Well go outside for a walk."

"Yes sir." With that, he was gone again. Espio groaned, shaking his head.

"Nice desk." Rei began. Vector looked up questioningly. "English oak, I believe. Purchased fro Al's Furniture store." The two reptiles looked at him completed stunned. "There's a chip missing from the second left leg." The squirrel pointed out. Vector ducked underneath to look and found it right were Rei said it would be. ""Al's purposely chips all his furniture so that if anyone tries to sell him back his own stuff, he'll know at once if they're trying to cheat him."

"Wow…" Vector muttered into the air with wide eyes. "Espio, you've got to admit, that's pretty damn impressive." Before the chameleon could answer the crocodile rose from his seat. "Ok Rei, we'll take you on and see how you do in the field. Help us a crack a case, and your hired." The squirrel shrugged.

"Sounds good to me." He put his hands in his pockets. "So what's the case?" Vector answered by simply turning the television set back on. Rei blinked and stared at the screen.

"And authorities still have no leads to the location of Koji Naoko Okida, former Captain of G.U.N freelance division. Police are urging anyone sighting him to refrain from confronting this dangerous criminal, instead call the authorities at once. This mobian is wanted for the theft of various government files and a military walker. We repeat again that is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous."

---------------------------

Just as he'd predicted, the forest had been able to provide him with sufficient cover to escape detection from the base. He'd spent most of the night and the next day, while keeping his walker out of sight, gaining as much distance as he could. About noon his heating system finally gave up the ghost and he was forced to stop for repairs.

Okida groaned, wiping his forehead with his fur matted with sweat and black oil. He wished the government could apply that steam dependant technology they used to create Giant Wing to their walkers, it would simplify things greatly. Shutting the metal hatch, he hoisted himself back into the pilot seat of the Dead Shot. All of the walkers there, he had to take this one. He hadn't had time to examine each one, so his choice of walker that bee totally down to luck of the draw. Well, at least he had managed to escape the base with the files.

His next move was an obvious one, replace the cooling system in his mech and then replace the ammunition he lost. Only once those things were taken care of could be start of on his real mission. With a loud reluctant groaning, his walker reared itself up from his sitting position, the patches the captain had installed into his machine hissing loudly. As it rose, pone of the large legs buckled slightly, nearly tipping the entire machine over. If the captain hadn't fired the emergency grappling hook just in time, wrapping the line around a thick tree trunk, the walker would have gone straight over the edge of the large rock to a long fall down to a swamp below. Eventually the patch held it's own and the leg became workable again. The captain flexed the controls a couple of times to test it, before switching to manual mode.

Finally the mechanoid pulled itself up without any complaints and it strode off into the forest, keeping itself well below the canopy lines. Those search choppers from the base were still patrolling the area for him. With any luck he might be able to avoid them and make his way back to a populated city and mingle amongst the crowds.

--------

Flip card 1:

Name: Dead Shot Military Walker

Age: Prototype developed several months ago.

Specifications: The armour of a Big foot, the firepower and speed of a Hot Shot and the Flying capabilities of a Flying Dog.

(R&R)


	42. Episode 21, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X: etc)

* * *

Flip card 2: 

Name: Rei

Age; 15

Species: Flying Squirrel

Abilities: Gliding, impressive deductive powers

Description: Chaotix' latest member, born with powers of deduction that titter on the verge of precognition.

* * *

Vector scratched the back of his head, staring out across the wasteland that the stolen Dead Shot walker that managed to traverse, eluding the base security and escaping into the thick forest in the distance. He withdrew a small compass out of his glove and checked it. The walker had been heading south west, mean that he could only be heading for Capital City. It was the only large city in that general direction. 

"So this Captain Okida." Espio began to the base technician who'd agreed to show them around the base and help their investigations. "Has he been with G.U.N long?" Te human technician shrugged.

"Ever since he arrived from Mobius." He replied, wiping his forehead with his white hankie. The hot mid day sun above them baking the moisture out of their bodies slowly. "From what they say he mastered every combat form of Mech, so I pity the people who have to go up against that guy."

"Any idea what those files were he was suppose to have stolen?" Rei asked. The technician paused, rolling his eyes as if he was trying to remember.

"Don't think they told me." He began slowly. "How about I take you inside the base to examine the…" He was cut short when a jeep driven out from the base screeched to a halt nearby, a man in a General's uniform clambering out, a fuming angry look on his face.

"Just what are you people doing here?" He demanded towering over them. "This is a restricted area, Government property." It was then he spotted the technician who'd been talking to them. "Roger, don't tell me you let these people on sight."

"They're investigators General Saddler." He began, but the General, head of G.U.N military operations was hearing none of it.

"I don't care if they're federal agents!" He snapped, almost shaking with rage. "Get these mobians off this bases perimeters." The General gave them all a wide glare. "You're all severely lucky I'm not having you arrested, now get out my sight!"

"Friendly fella isn't he?" Espio remarked sarcastically as they drove away from Area 99 in their own rented jeep out towards the forest on the horizon.

"The General was sweating." Rei remarked, sitting in the back with Chamree, who was staring out at all the blaring objects go past.

"I'm not surprised. It is ninety degrees in the shade this far south." Vector remarked as he drove through a large stone arch before the jeep dipped down between two sand dunes. The flying squirrel shook his head as he narrowed his eyes.

"No." He add simply. "A person only sweats that much when they have something to hide." The jeep quickly snapped the desert stretch and arrived at the edge of the thick forest, the shadows from the trees casting from relative cool over them. Vector removed his shades and withdrew an atlas from the glove compartment. Charmee flew out of the truck to stretch his wings for a little while, buzzing around them with intense curiosity. They could see this the way the renegade Walker had gone, several trees had been knocked down and the grass crammed between the foliage had bee crushed by the footsteps of something very heavy.

"According to that Technician." The crocodile began as he flipped through the pages of the book. "Okida's Mech had a heating problem, meaning it wouldn't be able to travel very fast before it had a blow out. The first thing the Captain will be looking for are replacement parts." Finally he found the page he was looking for and ran his finger down a road from their relative position right down to capital city on the coastline. "He'll have to go here. It's the only place around for miles and if he knows where to look he could get the replacement parts while he's there." Espio checked his digital watch, setting it to calendar mode for a moment.

"He's had a good thirty two hours head start on us. He may not even be there anymore." Rei shook his head.

"In this heat, his Mech'll even slower. With that inadequate system, he should be arriving there by now." Vector rubbed his hands together in glee, a sinister look coming over his face.

"Then that's our next stop. I know an auto parts dealer there, he also buys and sells parts of damaged Walkers. Let's see if he knows anything." With that he placed the map back in the glove compartment and floored the accelerator, shooting off across the forest line, Charmee hanging on the back.

* * *

It would have taken exceptionally quick eyes to spot the three blurs hurtling down Main Street heading northward, but not even the quickest eyes would have been able to thousands of punches and picks being thrown around when the three collided. Sonic slid to a halt around the crib, before somersaulting into the air narrowly avoiding a kick from Metal Sonic, but failed to see a spin attack that came at him from behind, Shadow dealing the blow. 

Seeing the black and red hedgehog wide open, Metal Sonic spun his entire body around and shot into the air, taking hold of Shadow's foot with his vice like talons. The hedgehog blinked before Metal tore him from the air and tossed him back towards the ground. Sonic rebounded off the side of a building before shooting right back up, a head butt smashing into Metal Sonic's stomach, knocking him back down towards the ground.

Taking the fight to the snow covered roof tops; Shadow swung his arm back gathering energy before unleashing a multitude of Chaos Spear's right at them. Sonic spun his entire body around clockwise, bending his back just enough avoid them, while Metal Sonic didn't detect their approach and one caught the robotic hedgehog straight across the face, knocking him sideways. Sonic skidded to a halt on a ledge, before rocketing forward, tackling Shadow down into an alleyway. Metal Sonic shook his head realigning some of his key systems before leaping after them.

Some family on their way home paused when they heard commotion coming from the alleyway they were passing. There was a violent crash as someone knocked some trash cans over, a flash of green light before Sonic was hurtling out into the light, sent flying by the brunt of an attack from Shadow. The black and red hedgehog went to leap after him but as he jumped; Metal Sonic grabbed hold of his foot again and tossed him straight back into the alley.

Sonic rubbed the back of his after, having collided with the side of a car, before rocketing back in with a fist drawn. Metal Sonic was about to deal another kick, when something held his leg back from behind. Turning, he had just enough time to see the edge of a Piko Piko hammer before he was sent flying into the air. Sonic paused and side stepped, narrowly avoiding the hurtling Metal Sonic was the robot spiralled into the air. Shadow grimaced as he heard the robotic hedgehog's body crash into the side of a building across the street. Amy while not gifted with super speed had strength that most people wouldn't expect by just looking at her. Lately, Amy had taken a whole new look for herself. Skate, jeans and a pair knee pads on her legs and a loosely fitting white shirt. She'd kept the golden bracelets around her wrists and white gloves. Shadow swung to the side to avoid a swing from her hammer but was not so fortunate on the rebound, the edge catching him across the chin. Staggering back to let Sonic take the offensive coming in fast swinging a kick forward. Amy blocked it with the pole of her hammer, Sonic kicked again and Amy blocked it, when again and again.

Sonic let his guard down at one point and when Amy deflected his kick she swung around, catching him straight into the stomach. Sonic gagged, twitching as she retracted her blunt weapon. It had felt like someone had smashed a bus straight into his side. Amy was about to swing her hammer again when Metal Sonic came down behind her and using his large talons tore her weapon away from her, throwing it straight up into the air. Before the pink hedgehog could react, he robot swung his leg around and dealt her the kick Sonic had been trying to knocking her out into the street.

Shadow shot forward with a punch, catching Metal Sonic across the face, causing the robotic hedgehog to stagger backwards. Sonic dived forward to with a kick on the rebound, knocking the robot to the ground. Hoping to catch the blue hedgehog of guard, Shadow swung his leg around with a kick of his own. Sonic simply rolled under it and hammered a quick succession of punches straight into his chest. Catching her hammer as it fell back to the ground, Amy charged back into the fray. Chuck shoo his head, rolling his eyes. He'd been watching their little sparing session on the video feed from his latest feat of engineering, a spy robot. G.U.N the Eggman Empire had similar constructs, so he decided to build one of his own. It was a little bigger than a G.U.N beetle robot two small side wings on the side, it's little an oval shape and completely silver and it was having trouble keeping steady in the cold wind above the roof tops, but given enough time Chuck was sure he would be able to fix it. After all, made managed to repair Metal Sonic, which in itself was a nightmare and a half.

Sonic looked back as he shot along the road side, a black and red blur close behind him, a pink blur just behind that one, which left one blur unaccounted for. Looking up, he saw Metal Sonic just in time to slip to the side to avoid a slash from steal talons. As the robotic hedgehog came down, Sonic swung back with a kick, sending his body spiralling back towards Shadow, who disappeared into a green flash before repapering on the other side of the road.

That caused him to leave his side unprotected a mistake Amy took full advantage of him, skating just fast enough to swing her hammer straight across, knocking Shadow to the ground.

Sonic was just about to leap into the fray again when a loud bleeping sound started blaring from his wrist watch. Throwing one foot horizontally in front of the other, he came to a sudden stop. Shadow was also wearing a similar watch and it started making a nose at exactly the same time and so did Amy's. Metal Sonic heard the bleeping from up the air and descended down to the ground.

"Boy, an hour sure flies by when your having fun." Sonic remarked, dusting himself off. Instantly Chuck's surveillance robot flew down in front of them, a small hatch on it's top sliding to one side as a video screen rotated upwards, Chuck's face already on it.

"Well I hope you've worn yourselves out by now, when I said you could benefit from a little sparing, I did not mean a ruthless battle royal." He stated with a strong hint of irritation in his voiceShadow shrugged his shoulders.

"For us, this **_is_ **a little sparring." Chuck ran his fingers through his head, remembering that he was talking to people who had saved the entire world from supremely powerful bad guys on more than one occasion.

"You should get back here, I have something we need you to…" There was a sudden green flash and Chuck blinked and when he opened his eyes again the four of them had disappeared from his robot's view screen. Then a moment later, the same flash merged right behind them and out of that flare, Sonic and the others emerged. Chuck just drew a blank face, before sighing and turning back to the computer screen, ordering his robot to return to base. Even with the majority of G.U.N forces in Station Square gone, Chuck was still setting up shop in Tails' workshop, fearing it safer for the moment then his own garage. Mr. Tanaka was watching the property for him. Tails had already begun putting up Christmas decorations with a brightly lit tree near the window. "As you know…" He began, bringing up some files that he had obtained up on screen. "I've been monitoring Government intelligence and it seems some of their satellites have picked up a dozen large objects descending away from the Egg Moon towards the atmosphere." The program on screen showed a diagram of Earth and it's moon, along with several objects slowly moving downwards toward the surface.

"An invasion?" Amy asked, looking closer as Sonic reached for a cloth to wipe a good deal of sweat off his forehead. Chuck leaned back in his chair.

"Looks like it, but the funny thing is that a couple of minutes ago they simply stopped just beyond the atmosphere." The objects on screen did exactly that, remaining above the planet, and Shadow noticed, above the range of air to surface missiles. "I'm no military strategist so I don't know exactly Eggman could be up to, whatever it is, it can't be good."

"When is it ever?" Sonic asked, folding his arms.

"Another thing." Chuck began. "I trust you all remember the Foundation Organisation?" Shadow narrowed his eyes, they were something he would be hard pressed to forget. On the surface, they were simply a multi million dollar corporation, but in truth that was all a façade. In truth they were a secret cult of men and women who worshipped the dark God, Krish-Kra-Pal. A god that had tried to take over Shadow's body and use it to exact destruction all over the entire world. "Well, after their building collapsed, the Government had their organisation disbanded. That left a void in the new technologies industries for another company to fill, that company…" He paused to bring up something else on screen, a green hexagon logo surrounded by a circle. "Is the Hexagon Corporation, fairly new in the business but somehow they managed to win the Government's contract on adaptation of that salvaged technology they stole from the downed Egg Fleet."

"Are they still ripping materials from that graveyard?"

"No, most of the stuff they could salvage they've been storing in other places, military bases mostly for their technicians to study. Never the less, it seems Eggman poured his heart and soul into that fleet. From what I can gather, they haven't even begun adaptation seriously yet."

"Look." Sonic started. "Not to sound rude or anything, but what's this got to do with us?" Chuck gave him a sour look over his shoulder.

"Hexagon are using a vicious piece of technology they took from the Flagship to construct a defensive cannon on a mountainside to the north. If it works, it'll be able to shoot a concentrated laser beam from ground level into orbit." The explanation was completely wasted on Sonic, who simply stood there with a dumfounded look on his face. Chuck sighed and brought up a set of blueprints for a large Gun that towered upwards, the size reference scale on the side showed that the whole thing was well over eight stories high. The gun had two large barrels lancing out of a gear ridden stadium that looked like was able to rotate around an entire 360 degrees.

"The Ultimate planetary defence." Metal Sonic commented. Chuck nodded in agreement.

"If it's test run is successful, the Government will have these cannons installed down the entire length of the country and it won't be long before other nations follow suite." The brief image of a long line of these hideous weapons towering over the entire country briefly filtered into Amy's minds eye.

"The militaries certainly made…advancement in the last few months." Sonic stated. "I mean, when we first got here, all they had was ordinary guns. Then they could build their own robots, then pilot-able Mechs, and now...these things."

"Which is another problem." Chuck sighed, pushing himself away from the computer. "At this rate, within another year the military will reach a technological level sufficient enough to move forces into space." He turned to give them a sour eye. "And I think we all know what'll happen then." That part was obvious, if G.U.N gained the ability to move their robotic forces into space then they'd attack the Egg Moon, the current headquarters of the Eggman Empire. This would plunge the entire planet into an all out war, one that eventually with this superior robotics' technology, Eggman would win.

"Well can we do anything?" Amy asked. Chuck sighed again and shrugged.

"Little we can do to stop it I'm sorry to say. It looks like we're about to go head first into the biggest war this world has ever seen. It'll make World War two look like a trade dispute." Sonic crossed his arms behind his head with a wide goofy grin on his face.

"You people worry to much." He said, flopping out on the sofa. "Eggman's no big deal, we've beaten him before and we can do it again. Come on people it's only a few more days until Christmas. Where's your festive cheer?" Shadow crossed his arms

"Bah humbug."

* * *

For the third time today, his Mech overheated and Okida was forced to wait until the systems cooled down and unfroze. He swore, the city was not too far from here, in fact he would be able to see it once he got to the top of this sand dune, all he had to do was get there and he leave this crippled piece of junk in the shade for a while. He could barely do a thing with this Walker in it's present condition. Once the controls relinquished, the Dead Shot walker began to slowly make its up towards the top of the dune. 

The captain found himself nearly roasting inside this machine. Of all the Mechs on the base he had had to steal this one. His ears twitched when he heard a familiar whistling part the air that began to increase in pitch and volume as time wore on. The whistling he was only too aware of, the sound of missiles hurtling at him. In reaction he slammed his fist down on the jet button, the overrated thrusters throwing him violently across the sands, narrowly avoiding the barrage of fire. Looking around, he could see several HotShot Walkers being dropped in from a Carrier plane that soured overhead. He'd feared that they might have been able to track him when he left the forest, the Mech had left some big foot prints in the sand.

"Captain Okida, you are under arrest for the theft of a Military class Walker and top secret files with intent to sell to the enemy." The sharp voice over his com link stated, one of the faster machines with proper heat protection fired a series of warning shots at the sand around him, keeping his Mech pinned to one place. Not that he could move anyway, the controls had seized up again. "Surrender at once or we will recognise your Mech as a hostile unit." A set up! He knew they'd try to spread something to discredit him, but he hadn't expected something like this. They were laying the blame on him. This was going to make his mission ever so much harder. He gritted his teeth, silently ordering the machine to move with his frustration. Tying to talk his way out of this was not going to work, the soldiers piloting those machines are trained not to listen to the pleadings of the enemy. Which meant he was going to have to do this the hard way.

The two mounted machine guns turrets on the underside of his walker's body pivoted around, firing a barrage of shots straight at the Hot Shots. Okida wasn't trying to hurt them, simply discourage or disable their Mechs. Finally the controls for the Walker's mobility system came back on line and he pushed the machine to it's limited, forcing it up and over the sand dune, nearly overheating it again in the process.

"This is your last warning, surrender of you will be…." The captain switched off the com link as his walker slid down the far side of the dune into a steep dip in the desert. Capital city and the ocean was just on the horizon now. If he could make it there he'd be safe, missile fire was not allowed within civilian areas. There was a sudden loud blurring in the air and several attack choppers flew overhead, about having a little distance away before charging straight at him.

"Ah crap!" Okida exclaimed as his Mech was riddled with bullets as the choppers flew past, making one of his own missile compartments rendered inoperable. Warnings of malfunctions and errors flashed upon the internal screen, luckily however the mobility controls had not been affected. Forcing the walker to it's feet, Okida made the thing run as fast as it could towards the city in the distance. Seeing him flee, the Hot Shots on the top of the sand dune took after him, missiles firing straight forward. The choppers circles around again and came at the Dead Shot walker from behind, hoping to cripple it's legs from behind. His sensors picking up their attack, Okida swung the entire torso of the mechanoid around and fired the only two missiles he had left straight at them they missed but then he hadn't been aiming directly for them, the explosion in the air was simply meant to divert their course.

It was the that something occurred to him, he was leading a battle directly into a civilian area. Any stray friendly fire and people could get hurt. He gritted his teeth, had the heat gotten to him already? How could he have made such a mistake? There was only one thing left to do, he checked the controls just to make sure that this unit had at least that installed. Good, it did have option. The bat paused to take a deep breath, he was going to have to make this look very good.

The pilot commanding the Hot Shot Mech that lead the charge blinked in surprise when the renegade Dead Shot came hurtling around to charge straight at them. What sort of kamikaze move was this? He got his answer when he detected that the self destruct program inside that Walker had been activated.

"BREAK FORMATION!" He cried into the com system. "That crazy fools going to blow himself up!" At once the other walkers came to a halt and bolted off the side, gaining as much distance from the Dead Shot as possible. After a moment thick black smoke started rising from it's back engine as it shook violently like it was gripped in a seizure, before the legs gave way as it collapsed to the sand. As it hit the ground, it's energy servers detonated and the entire Mech was blown apart in a fire storm that people in the city felt the shock wave off. The Hot shots had just made it behind a lump of hand just in time as bits of flaming wreckage began to fly into the air.

The explosion threw a pillar of sand up into the sky, creating a thick blanket of dust that hung around in the air, gently falling back to the ground. The choppers overhead had nearly been thrown out of the sky by the sheer force, some only regaining control of themselves to avoid a belly landing on the desert floor.

"That crazy son of a…

"Check the wreckage, collect those data discs or make sure they're destroyed." The Hot Shot's marched out from behind their barricade to tower the flaming wreckage, the smoke clouding their instruments for a brief moment.

"No one could have survived that. What the hell was he thinking?"

"Guess he didn't want to be taken alive."

"Forget the bastard. Just find those data discs!" While the salvage operation got underway, some distance away a small lump of sand twitched and Captain Okida poked his head out from under it. Blowing up his own Mech had been a last resort, but these guys had given him little other options. The smoke from the explosion and the fire would keep their sensors clouded just long enough for him to escape. He stood up, brushing the and out of his wings fur and clothes. The bat reached into his ash with withdraw the discs he had been safeguarding. Good, in one piece without a single scratch.

Spreading his wings out to their full length, he caught a updraft of hot air and soured into the sky, spiralling in mid air. Turning at just the right angle to fly upside down towards the city in the distance.

* * *

(In Chris Voice) 

Is Captain Okida really the traitor, or is there something else going on? Will Chaotix unravel the mystery? Find out next time on Sonic X, A chase across the desert. Don't miss it!

(R&R)


	43. Episode 22, part 1

(I do not own Sonic X, for those of you who haven't guessed it yet, Rei **_is _**Ray the

Flying Squirrel … )

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO LET'S GO!

Episode 22: A chase across the desert

* * *

The Greasy pit, while it sounded like some line of low quality restaurants, was actually the name of a large mechanic garage in Capital City, the largest in the area. Old pieces of out dated machinery wound up here eventually and according to the word of the street, even parts from G.U.N Walkers. Vector grinned and placed his sunglasses over his eyes before pushing the door open and stepping inside, the rest of Chaotix following at a relatively comfortable distance.

The inside of the building was dark, lit only by a serious of dull lights lining the right wall and the sparks flying from a welding station on the far side. A human was working on some large hunk of metal over there, a face shield pulled down over his face as he worked. The large room seemed to be the main mechanic area, with doorways leading into separates rooms and even outside to a large parking lot. Hooks on chains hung from the ceiling, some with dented and probably unusable motor engines hanging from them. A strong smell of oil floated through the air like a powerful perfume.

Finally noticing that he was interrupted from his work, the human turned off his welding torch and pushed his mask up, revealing a fat face and grey moustache. His eyes looked like two little white bots above his blackened cheeks. His was clearly very overweight with a flabby lump of skin just below his neck.

"Can I help you?" He asked roughly amidst the anguished cries of large machinery else ware in the building.

"Private investigators, sir." Vector replied, taking up the talking while he motioned with one hand behind his back for Espio and Rei to start exploring the other rooms like he kept this fellow talking. "We need to ask you a few questions." The man grunted and turned back to his work look frustrated.

"More questions?" He began picking his welding torch back up. "You're the second lot who been around here today asking questions." Vector blinked in surprise.

"We are?" The human looked up.

"Oh yeah." He went on. "Just an hour ago these people in these real smart uniforms were around here asking if I'd had any offers for Mech parts." He paused to laugh. "I wish, if I could get my hands on Mech parts I'd be a very rich man. Besides, civilians can't own Walker's or their parts, it's illegal." Vector stood there silently, thinking over what he had just said. Men in uniform? That sounded a lot like G.U.N investigators, meaning they were on the same path as Chaotix was. If Vector wanted to catch this Captain Okida first, he'd have to hurry.

"Well have you had any Mobian customers for the last few days, a bat maybe?" The crocodile asked. The human didn't even look up; he just carried on expecting his work on the blackened metal. By now Espio and Rei had silently worked their way down across the walls and had entered separate rooms to begin searching. Even if this guy didn't know anything, then they might find some clues in the other rooms. Charmee, who was getting bored, flew off to stare at some of the things hanging from the ceiling.

"A lot of people come through here asking for parts of various things; a few of them are mobians, although I don't recall seeing a bat around here lately." Vector narrowed his eyes at him; there was something about that statement that didn't ring true, something in his voice that seemed to give something away. He didn't know what, it was a hunch for the most part but his hunches had never let him down before.

"You sure?" Vector began, giving him a probing glare. "Do try to remember if you have? It's vitally important to the case, if you do have information that you tell us." He added; putting on the most detective like voice he could mange. The mechanic looked up almost sheepishly, a slight twinge of guilt in his eyes before he looked down again, trying to look like he was busy.

"Don't reckon I have." He replied and Vector stood back up again, crossing his arms in front of himself.

"We wasn't lying." Rei said coming out of a side door, alarming the mechanic. "We searched his stores, not a Mech part to be seen." The human did not looked pleased at that statement.

"Oi, what's your game?!" He demanded on Vector, who simply opened his jaws wide enough so the semi light could reflect of his sharp teeth.

"But…" Rei added, raising a hand. "He did have a whole Walker here not too long ago." But the way the Mechanic's eyes widened, Vector could see that they had caught him out.

"A whole one?" The crocodile asked coyly. "What makes you think that?" The human opened his mouth to protest again but Rei beat him to it.

"A special kind of oil used only in G.U.N Walker repair and motivation was lying on the floor of a service pit just over there." He added, pointing back through the door. "The oil's still fresh and whoever piloted the thing out of here, marched it right through the puddle, leaving huge foot prints just outside." Vector grinned and looked straight back at the Mechanic, who was standing there with his mouth open in astonishment.

"Have something you'd like to say?" The crocodile asked him and he suddenly came back to angry life.

"I've no idea what you're talking about!" He snapped.

"Really?" Vector asked again, before taking him by the scruff of his neck and tugging him towards the door Rei was standing by. The crocodile surprised the mechanic by showing he possessed superior strength to his own. The room beyond had a square pit directly in the centre, a large shutter door opened out to the outside parking lot, a small mechanical lift going down into the pit itself. Peering over the edge, Vector could see the stains the flying squirrel had mentioned and the large foot prints that lead out of them, far too large to belong to anything else than a very large G.U.N walker. "Now have you anything to add?" The Crocodile asked, showing him the evidence.

"I'll call the police; you've no right to…" He began, but as that moment, Espio flew into the room, appearing with effortless Ninja skill before them.

"I checked the financial records in the upstairs office." He announced proudly. "Someone paid a lot of money for something just this morning, it didn't say what. Whatever it was cost the poor guy over five thousand dollars." That seemed to be the final nail in the coffin and Vector gave the mechanic a large grin, showing all his teeth.

"**_Now_** have you anything to add?" He repeated.

"Alright, alright!" The human snapped. "I did have a whole Mech here, but you hardly expected me to admit it did you? A guy can face time for being found with one of those." The crocodiles smile listened and he hide some of his teeth.

"That's better, now who did you sell it to?" He released the human who nearly fell to his knees.

"A mobian bat, this morning" He admitted. "I didn't see his face, just kept the drape he wore around his shoulders up. Paid me good money for the rusty pile of scrap metal, I mean, I couldn't get it working so it was a miracle he got it to move at all." Now it was obvious that they were on the right trail. Captain Okida had been here only a few hours ago.

"What sort of Walker was it?" Rei asked.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"The thing was larger than any Mech in the military, hardly anything like all the small others you see on TV."

"And exactly who sold you it to begin with?" Espio asked for everyone else could, getting a little impatient.

"Some guy, I don't remember. He wanted to get rid of it, and I thought I could make some money selling the parts from the thing. I tried to gut the machine, but whatever it's made out of wouldn't even budge." Vector didn't like the sound of that. This Captain Okida was an accomplished Walker pilot; give him a Mech out of some tough new alloy and that made a dangerous combination. This made tracking and capturing the outlaw even more difficult.

"Did he say where he was going?"

"No! Now get out of my shop! I'm calling the police!" Vector stepped in front of him before he could race for the door.

"I don't think so mate!" He snared, giving him a glare. "You see, if you call the cops, then we tell them all about the Walker you had here. Something's tells me illegal harbouring a Mech is a bigger felony than harassment."

A mechanic looked up with his mouth open in astonishment.

* * *

A large grin crossed Okida's face. This new Mech was outstanding; its speed, raw fire power and shielding armour far exceeded anything G.U.N had in its armoury. It had cost him a ridiculous amount of funds but it was worth it. As for where this spectacular Walker had come from, the captain had absolutely no idea, but at this moment he was just thankful it was here and in his possession.

Unlike most of G.U.N's other walkers, this one was built around a more humanoid design with a gigantic torso sitting on top of it's legs, each side arm armed with a machine gun and a state of the art laser rifle. It had no head, rather a pair of optical lenses that sent images down into the cockpit from either shoulder. This machine had to weight over eight five tons, yet it moved as quickly as any Dead shot and it had a flying option. True it could only propel the machine into the air for short hops, but it was more than enough to lift the Mech high above any sky scrapper. Its armour was painted bright military green, hiding its chrome metal components underneath. A single pain of bullet proof glass in the middle of the chest plate marked where the cockpit lay. Its legs were similar to a Big Foots, but each part of them was slightly longer allowing the machine to take a longer stride, making it faster overall.

"Who could have built this beauty?" He asked himself. Clearly it was not of G.U.N design, if Eggman had built, he would surely be using them in his army and that mechanic who sold him it hardly seemed intelligent enough to assemble this machine himself. In fact, the idiot had been more than willing to get rid of the thing, never understanding its true combat potential. The man could have made a fortune selling this thing to the Government. "Ah who cares?" The bat replied to his own question as his Mech crossed the desert heading back north. In this scorching heat, it held up under the stress, maintaining optimum efficiency.

"Attention unidentified Walker, you are crossing military controlled space." A voice over the com announced and several warning shots rang out, impacting the desert sand directly in front of him. Okida pulled back on the controls and the advanced Walker came to a stop. Looking up, the captain spotted another carrier plane souring overhead. It was the same one who'd dropped those Hot Shot's that had picked him up before and it had those same attack choppers as an escort. "Hey that's the Yahger Mech that was stolen last month!" Someone announced on the other end of the link. Okida blinked, and narrowed his eyes. Finally, some verbal confirmation of the conspiracy, Yahger had been mentioned in the data on the discs he stole, but he would never have expected it to be some to be some kind of new Walker.

"So this is Yahger." He stated to himself, looking over the controls again, familiarizing himself with the name. The plane was souring overhead now and when its shadow passed over him, a large door in its underside opened and it began hot dropping Walker's out from its interior. But not just Hot Shot Mech's this time, Flying Dog's came souring down at well, quickly surrounding him in a tight circle. Okida forged a smile, if he'd know that these pilots were part of the group that was blaming from for their crimes, he wouldn't have held back before.

"Surrender or die!" The ultimatum over the link was sharp and clear, leaving no room for argument. Okida's grin just widened. The Captain thought it was about time to see exactly what this Mech was capable of.

His hands flew over the controls, the combat system of the Walker activating, the two large system in each shoulder glowing a bright yellow. Both arms flew up, lasting the two Hot Shots on either side with a concentrate laser beam, knocking them down to the ground. Without hesitation they opened fire, bullets and missile fire impacting the Yahger Mech's armour, bouncing off hardly making a scratch.

The jets on the back of the machine came to life with a loud scour and it soured forward, ramming into a Fly Dog, sending it spiralling off to the right. Skating back through the sand to charge straight at them, two hidden missile compartments opening up in each side with a loud clank, four missiles already flying through the air. They struck the legs of two Hot shots, shattering their support and as they collapsed to the sand the others opened their missiles bays and fire all their projectiles directly at the Yahger. Several caught it on the leg arm, catching it between it's armour, the machine gun on that limb going offline, but it still managed to avoid most of them, using it's speed to dodge around the deadly fire, before it's working gun riddling a few of their Walker's with bullets.

"Hey, look at that!" Espio began, pointing over the horizon to some bright flashes just beyond some large sand dunes in the distance. Vector followed his gaze, his eyes lighting up. Those explosions were from missile fire, some Walker's were fighting over there. This could mean that they'd finally caught up with the Captain, spinning the stirring wheal of the jeep round violently, nearly throwing Rei and Charmee out the other side.

As they rounded a dune, a barrage of bullets flew across the sand in front of them, one striking their jeep across the side, blowing out on tyre. The crocodile lost control of the vehicle and they ploughed directly into the sand.

Yahger swung to the side, firing another missile directly across the width of a Flying Dog, the explosion throwing it directly into the Mech behind it, knocking the two of them to the ground. The attack choppers flew in, hoping to catch the machine off guard, firing their machine guns without pause or hesitation. The bullets simply bounced off the armour plating, hardly doing any damage whatsoever. These irritants in the air didn't last along, before Okida actually noticed them and rotated one gun turret around to shoot them out of the sky.

"This is Alpha Patrol, encountering Yahger Mech; we need Raptor Walker back up now!" The pilot of the plane above screamed, before the machine below tilted it's torso around one hundred and eight degrees and riddled its underside with holes and as it began to descend to the ground, the Yahger Mech stood above the tattered remains of it's would be adversaries, all the others Walker lying in tatters around it. A loud crashing sound echoed across the desert as the plane landed in the sand some distance away.

"I think we found him." Rei began, looking up at the towering machine, a loud hissing sound filling there air as thick steam began pouring out of its heat regulation vents. Vector pulled himself out of the sand, spitting to clear his mouth, using his large hands to pull himself up. There was a loud clicking sound and a cockpit in the chest opened up, their**_ prey_** finally revealing himself.

Okida spread his wings and gild down to the ground to examine the damage to his Walker. Remarkably, the armour plating only had a few dents and scorch marks on it and the left arm could be repaired easily enough. The only problem was the ammunition, which he had admittedly used a lot off without intending too. He might be on the run for some time and he was currently unaware of where to get more.

"GET HIM!" Someone shouted and Okida looked behind him just in time to see a group of Mobians tackle him to the sand, one of them grabbing his arms from behind and pin him down. "Koji Naoko Okida, I'm placing you under citizen's arrest!" Okida just groaned, before twisting his leg up and kicking whoever was the heaviest straight between the legs. Vector's eyes widened, faint tears swelling up in them and he collapsed to his back, suddenly in more pain then he'd bargained fore.

The bat flipped up to his feet, already withdrawing his pistol from its sheath. He blinked, recognising those before him.

"Hey I know you don't I?" He asked as Espio helped Vector back up. "Sure, I raced against you in the Grand Prix." A small black and yellow stripped insect flew up in his face and before the bat could say anything, Chamree hit him straight in the face, causing him to stagger backwards. "SON OF A…" Okida cursed into the air. Espio held up several shuriken, before throwing them straight at the bat, pinning his clothes to the side of his Mech.

"Ok, now we got him." The ninja announced as Vector recovered, struggling to stay up straight.

"Right then…" The crocodile started, finding it hard to keep his voice level constant. "Koji Naoko Okida, you are under…"

"You are making a terrible mistake." The bat snarled, trying wrenching an arm free but finding that the metal throwing daggers had pinned him fast. "I don't have time for this!" Clenching his teeth and a fist, with pure determination he tore his arm free, using that to rip the other throwing daggers out of his clothes. "Get out of my way.!" He added, spreading his wings and souring for his Mech. Espio tightened his grip around his katana and leapt up into the air to stop him.

"Wait!" Rei suddenly yelled and Espio nearly fell into the sand .Okida paused in mid air, flapping his wings to keep himself aloft. "Something isn't right here." The squirrel added, his eyes widening in curiosity rather than fear.

"What are you talking about?" Vector asked. Rei didn't reply, he simply put his fingers to his forehead, looking troubling before he looked suddenly and pointed to the horizon.

"There!" He shouted and even as he did so shots rang out through the air and several explosions collided with the side of the Yahger, tipping the unnamed Walker over. Cursing, Okida flew past Espio to the cockpit of his downed Mech, quickly strapping himself in. Vector looked right back to where Rei had pointed to see another three G.U.N Walkers come souring over a far away sand dune, closing the distance between them at an unthinkable speed. The sensors back on line, Okida scanned these new opponents. To his surprise, they were another type of walker he had never seen before. These, like the one he was piloting were larger than ordinary G.U.N ones and obvious much faster. They closed the distance in moments, encircling them like vicious predators. Like most Walkers, they had a bipedal design but instead of green military colours they were painted bright red and had enlarged missile pads on their shoulders that looked like they could carry a lot of ammunition.

* * *

Name: Yahger

Age: A few months

Description: A new Walker Mech created by a secret group operating within G.U.N itself.

(R&R)


	44. Episode 22, part 2

(I do not on Sonic X..etc. Sorry this chapter is shorter than the others.)

* * *

Flip card 1

Name: Charmee

Age: 6

Sex: male

Speics: Honey bee

Description: A member of the Chaotix detective agency

* * *

"Attention unregistered Yahger." A com-line from one of the new Walkers announced. Okida blinked and looked around, trying to see which one of the three of speaking to him. "You will surrender at once or you will be destroyed. You have three seconds to comply."

"Comply this!" The bat yelled, slamming his fist down on the missile fire button, the two pads on either side of the machine flying open, five missiles launching forth in a spray of fire. Amazing, these new red walkers seemed agile and fast enough to simply out run them, scattering like cockroaches one a kitchen floor darting past the fire, two machine guns on their underside spinning to the side, riddling the side of the Yahger with bullets. Its left leg buckled and it tilted forward, the Walker nearly falling over.

"Move it!" Vector cried as Chaotix raced away from the battle field, the sounds of battle in the distance. As much as the crocodile hated to give up a case when they were so close to capturing their target, getting killed in the process was not a good idea. "Wait, where's Rei?" He suddenly asked, realizing that the flying Squirrel was suddenly not around. Looking back, Espio could see their newest recruit simply standing there, staring up at the battling Mech's just beyond the sand ridge.

The Yahger had the advantage on armour, but these new red ones were much faster and could bring just as much fire power to bear. Which they were using to their full advantage, blasting the large Mech with their ammunition before treating to a safe distance, leaving the Yahger with hardly sufficient time to turn around and blast them

In the cockpit, Okida was being thrown around by the force of the shockwaves on the armour. His Mech's left arm was still offline and these new Walkers were taking chunks out of the armour, encircling like a school of sharks, sending themselves in one at a time to pick at him. Without saying a word, Rei simply began walking forwards down the sand dune towards the Walker's battle.

"REI!" Espio yelled after him. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOU'RE MIND?!" When Rei didn't reply, he simply kept walking, Cursing, Espio turned back and ran after him.

"Espio!" Vector and went after them. Charmee just hung in the air, watching with intense curiosity.

Okida' slammed his Mech's foot down, sinking it into the sand on purpose. The bat was well advised in all battle tactics, the one they were employing against him was pretty efficient, but it had one weakness. With his walker trapped in the sand, he turned his missile launchers straight upward and fired every last one of the all at once, filling the air above with a deadly rain. The red walkers turned to see what he was doing and that was their mistake as according to the laws of gravity, what goes up, must come down. The missiles spiralling high in the air before falling back down towards the ground as deadly shells and not even these Red Walkers could move fast enough to avoid being hit by at least three. As it turned out, these Mech's did not have proper armour placed on their frames, probably why they could go so fast. That meant that when the missiles struck, it did a whole lot more damage than Okida had imagined, one of them rendered completely inoperable.

"What the hell are you doing?" Espio demanded, finally coming level with Rei. The squirrel paused and then pointed directly to the left arm of the Yahger Walker, a dark burnt patch showing clearly where it had taken a direct hit.

"He's going to need that fixed, and as luck would have it, I know a thing or two about machinery." Espio narrowed his eyes.

"Alright, that's it." He snarled, stepping in front of the squirrel putting his arms out to point out that he was not going to let him pass. "How do you do that? I know you've got a keen eye, but I've seen you know things without even looking at them. I want to know how you're able to do this?!" Rei; despite the heat of the desert and the chaos battle ragging not to far away, just looking up calmly contemplating the question, looking thoughtful as he tapped his finger on the tip of his chin.

"Sometimes I just know things, things I really shouldn't know but I end up knowing all the same." He blinked, before a goofy grin spread over his face. "That probably doesn't make much sense."

"You bet it damn well doesn't!" by now Vector managed to catch up, pausing to catch his breath, intense frustration in his eyes.

"What are you still doing here, let's go!" Rei simply ignored them pushed past Espio and began spiriting towards the Yehger Mech. By now, the other two Red Walkers had pulled themselves up having full recovered from their shelling. The other, who had been downed, was pushed itself as far away at it could either to cease being a burden to its comrades or to avoid being hit by stray missile fire.

Employing their speed, the remaining two began circling the Yahger again and now Okida found himself in a jam as he wrenched his Mech's leg free. He had used up all his missile ammunition, which meant he'd have to get by with just the machine gun turrets. As his walker began to move, he didn't notice Rei hope on the foot, using it's momentum to propel himself up through the air. Catching onto the side, the flying squirrel began climbing upwards towards the arm which he had seen, or to be more precise, **_sensed_** had been damaged. Finally getting to the top, he found that there had been more extensive damage than he'd realized. A couple of cables had been burnt right through, repairing it was going to take a little time, and it wasn't as if he could ask the pilot to stop while he worked. Not with those two other Walker's blasting him.

Espio tossed his chain up towards the Mech, latched onto a protruding turret before swinging his way upward.

"Rei, get back here!" he cried up, but the squirrel didn't pay him any attention, he simply dropped down into the side arm of the Walker and began his work. Espio cursed into the air and began climbing, more determined than ever to make that Squirrel see sense.

Okida was trying his best to avoid being hit when all of a sudden, his sensors showed Vector and Charmee down on the sand below. They were directly in the line of fire and a stray missle from one of the Red Walkers was heading right for them. Vector looked up to stare death in the face, when the Yahger Mech placed itself between them and the missile, taking the fall blast. The entire machine shook and Okida braced himself, forging the Walker to move against it, opening fire at the aggressive Mech's. Suddenly, his sensors now registered that his left arm had become operational again and with it he discovered a new weapon. It seemed the arm not only housed a gun turret, but a laser rifle generator. Now this was a god send.

Swinging the entire Mech around, he threw the left arm towards one of the Red Walkers and a large latch on the front of it swung open, a silver barrel protruding from within. There was a loud buzzing sound as energy built up, before a single beam of green light lanced outward, sparking with blue lightning. It flew straight through the air and impaled itself through the Red Walker, tearing one of its legs clean off in the process. The machine staggered for a second, twisting violently before it collapsed back to the ground with a loud thud. There was a short hissing, before the energy chamber inside the machine was breeched and the machine exploded into a firestorm.

With two down now, the third stopped still. The Yahger Mech turned to face, him, its smoking rifle still held out. After a moment of utter silence between the two of them, the wind blowing up thin trailing of sand, the walker about faced and ran for the horizon, disappearing in a cloud of dust. The other downed Red Walker activated its jets and propelled itself off the ground following the retreat as closely as it could.

"Yeah you'd better run!" Okida called after him with a wide grin, the glass lid of the cockpit sliding open.

Rei poked his head out of the wound on the metal arm to see if his handy work had paid off. Apparently it had, as the two other Walkers he could see, were running for it becoming small dots on the horizon. Without warning, Espio grabbed him by the collar and pulled him roughly upward.

"Precisely what metal hospital did you escape from?" He asked him face to face. Rei looked like he was about to reply before the chameleon tugged him down the side of the Mech. Hearing their scrabbling, Okida pocked his head around to see the two of them climbing down. So that was why his left arm had suddenly become operational again. He slid out of the cockpit and fell back to the ground, using his wings to slow his decent. Vector and Charmee were already there, waiting for him.

"Look, before we jump at each other, maybe we should talk." The bat began before any of them could say anything.

"What's there to talk about?" Vector asked. "You just saved our lives, I owe you one." A smile forged its way onto his face. "We'll just say we were looking the other way." Okida's grin widened.

"You know, something, you're alright." The two of them tapped fists.

"But Vector…" Charmee began. "Isn't this guy a crook?" The bat shook his head and crossed his arms.

"The real crooks are the ones who've been shooting at us. They're part of an aggressive group with very real political agendas that have to be stopped. I have evidence that they've been hording Eggman Empire technology to build their own Walkers." He gestured behind him to the Yahger Mech standing over them as Espio and Rei climbed off it. "Before I could get it to the authorities however, they set me up." Vector narrowed an eye, sceptically.

"You mean you didn't steal a Dead Shot Walker?" Okida hesitated, rolling his eyes up towards the sky

"Well, that part was true. But only to make my escape from the base, I was going to return it once I exposed them, but in order to elude their forces I had to self destruct the thing." He blinked, suddenly remembering that he was on a very, very tight time schedule. "Look I'd like to stay and chat, but I should probably get going. They'll be sending more Walkers after me soon." He spread his wings again and caught a hot updraft, souring into the air. "You should probably get going as well. You don't want to get too involved in this, believe me." He landed back in the cockpit and began strapping himself in. "Oh, and thanks for the repairs." He called before the glass pane swung down. The Yahger hummed, its engine coming back online. The jets at the back of the machine blared into life, propelling it into the air.

Vector and the rest of Chaotix watched from the ground below as the Mech quickly began to disappear through the thick desert air, heading in the opposite direction from the way those Red Walkers had fled. Surprisingly, the crocodile found that he didn't feel as disheartened as he should be about letting the Captain slip from between their fingers. Chaotix only went after real criminals, and he could tell that this bat was a good guy really.

"Vector…" Espio began, nudging the crocodile's side, pulling him away from the others so that they could have a private conversation. "I think Rei might be physic." Vector blinked and star down at him with one eyebrow raised sceptically.

"Pull the other one...." He began with a wide grin as the chameleon raised his hands in front of himself.

"Look I know it sounds unlikely, but it's the only way he could know some of the things he'd able to know. I think his keen detective skills come from the ability to read things other people can't."

"Espio I'm really not in the mood for jokes."

"I'm not joking!"

"Come on, a physic Squirrel? How likely is that?" Espio folded his arms stubbornly.

"As a Ninja, I have to keep an open mind about things, and I truly believe Rei possesses precognition."

"Precog-wha?"

"The ability to see and sense things before they happen."

"Oh." The two of them turned to give Rei and glance. The Squirrel was talking to Charmee, trying to explain why they didn't need to chase after the Walker that was disappearing on the horizon. "Seriously Espio, I think you've been out in the sun too long. Let's go back to Station Square where I can remind myself it's nearly Christmas."

"So, do I make the team?" Rei asked as he saw Vector approach. The crocodile paused, smiled and extend a hand for the Squirrel to shake.

"Welcome to Chaotix, Rei."

"I'll take that as a yes then."

* * *

Okida flipped the com device on and put in a scrambled code, this would keep the line he was trying to connect secure from ease droppers. There was a brief period of static before a line was finally established.

"Report Captain." A voice simply stated.

"Mission successful thus far. I still have the data tapes." Okida replied, tapping the pocket in a gesture. "And a new Mech type." There was a pause on the other end.

"A new Mech type?" The voice replied. "Then they do have their own technological capabilities." Okida nodded with a frown.

"Afraid so and it seems far more advanced than ours, but luckily it seems I have quite a beauty in my hands here. I'll contact you again once I reach my next destination."

"Understood." The voice replied simply. "Good luck Captain." It added before the line dissipated and fizzled out.

General Saddler was absolutely silent as he entered the secret chamber underneath Area 99. Not even the Presidential Government knew about this chamber for it was where he and others who shared his political views came to plan and prepare their forces. The time was close now, and the biggest liability to their cause was still on the loose with the most incriminating evidence against them. If it was given to the authorities then their entire secret group would be uncovered and they were running out of time as it was.

"Sir!" A scientist in a white laboratory coat announced, saluting as he saw the General approach. The rest of the staff in the separate room turned and saluted at the same time.

"At ease." The general replied. "Is Operation _AC_ one hundred percent operational yet?" The scientist gestured behind him through a single pane of glass that separated them from a very long drop. The chamber they were inside was a colossal shaft that stretched over on hundred feet in length and width, cat walks and metal scaffolding spanned the distance in-between the walls. At the far end of the chamber was a giant glass tank full of a green liquid, the tank itself being well over fifty feet high. Bathing inside it was a dark silhouette about the size of several tanks, thick cables leading in through the top of the tank to its back.

"Another few hours sir and it'll be ready." The general nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Inform me when it's finished, I will to be there for it's re-birth." The scientist paused for a brief moment.

"Is something the matter General?" Saddler gave him a long side glance.

"Our glorious furture may be in jeopardy, which is why our plans have been accelerated. The operation will begin in four days.

On the day the Christian saviour was born, our new rule will rise into existence. The birth of Christ, will mark the birth of our empire."

* * *

(In Chris voice)

Chaotix may not have their dangerous criminal to show for their efforts, but fatal events are now in motion. Sonic the others face an old enemy from the grave, returning to finish what it started over two years ago. Find out what happens next time at the start of the **_Artificial Chaos Saga_**. It's the series finale next time on Sonic X: Don't miss it!

* * *

(R&R) 


	45. Episode 23, part 1

(MERRY CHRISTMAS)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C, GO! 

S.O.N.I.C, GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO LET'S GO!

Artificial Chaos Saga

Episode 23: Operation A.C

* * *

It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring; apart from a black and red hedgehog who paced the roof hour after hour. The snowing that stopped for the meantime, and Shadow stood on the roof of the Thorndyke estate with a restless mind. Something was preventing him from getting rest, something in the back of his mind that buzzed him constantly.

This was his first Christmas, at least one when he hadn't been sealed inside some sort of stasis sleep. Everyone else saw this a joyous time to be around family, but Shadow on the other hand did not have the luxury. The only people he might call family were long gone and without them, Christmas eve was simply another long, cold December night.

"Shadow…" A faint voice whispered in his ear, and the black and red hedgehog spun around. His eyes wide in astonishment as for a moment he had certain he'd seen her face again. "Shadow…" It came again and Shadow looked down towards the front lawn of the estate. At first glance, it appeared as if no one was there but after a moment he spotted the luminescent figure of a young girl standing by the front gate.

"It can't be…" He told himself, almost trembling as he stared. The figure looked at him, smiled, before gently floating backwards through the grating to the street. Almost desperate not to loose sight of her, the black hedgehog leapt down to the ground. The transparent girl hovered in the air waiting for him as he skated over the snow covered lawn but as he reached the opposite side of the fence, she faded away into the early morning mist. "WAIT!" Shadow cried before somersaulting over the gate, finding the street beyond completely empty. He stood still, waiting for something to happen but after a few moment of silence he sighed and slumped against the fence. "Get a grip Shadow." He told himself, holding an unsteady hand to his forehead. What would Sonic say if he claimed he was seeing ghosts? But in truth, he realized that really wished that it had been her, or some wraith of her. Something he could talk to. He had kept his feelings bottled up for over fifty years and desperately wished he could talk to her one last time.

"Shadow…" The voice whispered again and he looked up again to see a faint white glow just down the street slowly growing smaller as it floated away. He simply stood there, verifying that his eyes weren't deceiving him before he gave chase, but no matter how fast he tried to accelerate this spectre always seemed to be just beyond his reach.

"Please wait!" He cried out, following her through the city as the hours ticked by. The chase was long and it began to fatigue him in ways he never though possible, but did not pause for any rest. If it was her, he could not lose sight of this strange glowing transparent figure. Shadow was usually a hedgehog of rationalisation and this situation, if described to him at any other time would seem absolutely ludicrous, but Shadow didn't care about rational thinking at the moment. His mind was sent on one goal.

Finally, the sun began to rise over Station Square, the city lightly covered in a blanket of snow and then finally the spectre stopped running having lead the black and red Hedgehog to the docks near the bay. Shadow slid to a stop, acing this girl as he hovered nearby. This part of the harbour was the military district of it, which G.U.N had their large tanker ships come in and out. It had been used to transport supplies back and forth during construction of the cities defences, a large turret of which was just viable over the tops of the buildings.

"Is it…" Shadow began, almost hesitant to approach now that he had finally caught up with her. "Is it you…Maria?" Almost as if some divine force had heard him, the morning light intensified, revealing the spectres' features. Silkily blonde hair and sparkling sea blues eyes and if Shadow believed his eyes, a new edition. A pair of soft, giant dove like wings out her back. After fifty years, Shadow found himself without anything to say. Or at least, he tried to say something but the words froze in his mouth. Involuntarily, thick salty tears began wheeling up in his eyes.

"It's good to see you again." Her soft voice started, a voice he never expected to hear again. He nearly stumbled forward, his eyes now stung with tears.

"I…I'm sorry Maria." He nearly chocked, lowering his head. "I could have done something. I'm one of the strongest beings on the planet, I could have saved you." He felt a soft hand gentle caress the side of his face. "I could have saved you all, you, the ARK personnel, the Professor…I…I could have…" He carried on regardless.

"Forget about it Shadow." She told him softly. "We had good times before then didn't we? Just try to remember them." Shadow collapsed to his eyes, his fists clenched around the granite on the ground.

"How can I? It reminds me even more of all I lost." He finally looked up. "I never got to say goodbye." A delicately as any angel, she lifted him with some invisible force to his feet.

"Two trails are behind you, another begins." She told him, looking directly into his blood red eyes. "Chin up Shadow. You're going to have to get over your misery if you want survive." Shadow sniffed and looked up curiously like some four year old child.

"What do you mean?" He asked and before he even finished the sentence, Maria bean to slowly lift up towards the sky. Shadow blinked and leapt after her, finding that once again she remained out of his reach.

"It won't be long before the fate of not just this world, but all words rests on your, and Sonic's shoulders. It will be up to the two of you to fend of the darkness. If you do not succeed, then it's all over for everyone." A single beam of light lanced down from the sky engulfing her being.

"Wait! Don't go!" The black hedgehog called after her, but then the light grew too bright for him to see and he had to force his eyes closed. The world around him blurred into an empty void that seemed to endure itself for an eternity before he opened his eyes again.

He sat up, finding the early morning sunlight coming through the downstairs window of Tails' workshop. Silence maintained itself as he sat there, tears still stinging his eyes. It was still early and no body was up yet, not even a single light radiated from the city across the bay. There was a sudden load grunting and Shadow looked up from his small bed on the floor to see Sonic laying out on the sofa, snoring his head off. A thick thread of saliva hanging from his open mouth.

The black hedgehog rubbed his eyes to remove any evidence of emotion before standing up, reasserting control over himself. Had that all been a dream, but it had all seemed so real. Had it been some kind of message? He shuddered, thinking of the implications. If it had been a dream, all it had done was remind him of his own shattered past. If it was a message, then what had she meant? Precisely what was it he and Sonic…_he paused to give the snoring hedgehog a glance_…were supposed to do and when? "December twenty-fifth." He whispered to himself, looking at the calendar on the wall near the kitchen area. Well, he certainly didn't want to be around here when all that mushy stuff started and he really needed to clear his head. There was a soft green flare, and he vanished.

* * *

As silently as it could, the Yahger Mech made its way up through the forests of the Mystic Ruins towards the towering cliff that faced the bay of Station Square. Finally, once it had reached a sufficient height over a cliff face, its pilot ordered the machine to stop and it came to a direct halt. Okida pushed his head out to check the location and smiled. This had sufficient coverage from air surveillance, keeping his walker hidden from aerial surveillance. The engine of the Mech hissed reluctantly as it powered down, some steam emerging into the air. The bat dropped down from the cockpit, using his large wings to slow his decent to the ground. Unfortunately, his mission had become a little more complicated than he'd expected and something was telling him that he was running drastically short of time. What he need, he reasoned with himself camouflaged his Mech further with old branches and thick leaves, was help if he ever hoped to complete his agenda.

A short distance from where had had concealed his Walker, he came across a path created by the constant use of hikers. He could see Station Square just across the bay from here, which meant this destination was not too far now. In fact, if he judged the tracks in the ground right, it would be just around the corner.

His reasoning proved correct for as he rounded a large tree devoid of leaves, he saw Tails' Workshop built into the cliff just a few yards away. Okida never liked asking for help, it made him feel lessened if he had to resort to it, but he would if he had to, especially with so much at stake. He sighed and paused to thing about what he'd say to explain himself, but finding no perpetration could make him feel better he though he'd just get it over with. He pushed the drape around his shoulders off his nose and back below his neck again. It had kept him warm during the long nights on the run, but he reasoned that this place had to have some sort of central heating system. The warmth from witch he would look more forward to.

Without waiting, he pushed the door open and looked inside. Evidentially, some of them had had a party the other night. The remains of streamers lay on the floor all around the furniture, along with a sufficient amount of food and crumbs. Stepping inside, he found himself standing level with the barrel of a very accurate laser rifle mounted under Metal Sonic's right arm.

"Don't try anything stupid." The robot told him sharply. Okida gave him a side glance.

"This hardly seems like customary treatment for Christmas day." The bat replied as Metal Sonic forced him further into the room at gun point. Catching the noise, Sonic nearly fell off the sofa in surprise, before pushing himself to his feet. He yawned, rubbed the sleep out of his eye, blinking a few times.

"Hey what's…." He began sleepily. "Okida?"

"Hey.." The bat replied with a wide grin, raising a hand, before Metal Sonic shoved him further into the room, keeping his weapon directed at his head. "Do you mind?"

"I saw this guy on the news." Metal Sonic explained keeping his weapon held ready. _"They want him for the theft of a Walker and high treason."_ Okida seemed to take offence at that remark.

Metal Sonic explained keeping his weapon held ready. Okida seemed to take offence at that remark. 

"I'm no traitor." He almost snarled. Sonic stepped between the two of them quickly, sensing an escalating level of hostility.

"Ok, easy people. It's ok Metal Sonic; Okida's an old friend of mine." The blue hedgehog began, pushing down on the robot's arm to make him lower it. "If he says he's not a traitor, then that's good enough for me." It amazed Metal just how trusting Sonic could be. It had said on the report that this guy was a dangerous criminal and should be considered extremely violent. Yet, the robot supposed if he believed the media then he'd have to consider Shadow a heartless psychopath hell bent on the destruction of Earth. He lowered his arm, reluctantly. "Ok then bat boy, I suppose you're going to try and do some explaining." Okida looked down at Sonic with a puzzled look on his face. The bat stood at the tallest height for a mobian, rivalling Bark in stature. "So why exactly are they saying you're a vicious piece of scum who sold government secrets to Eggman?" The blue hedgehog said it so coyly it took a few moments for Okida to figure out that he wasn't being mocked.

"I'm on a covert mission." He explained simply. "And I really don't have time to explain all the details." Sonic said nothing. He simply crossed over to the kitchen unit and switched the light witch on.

"Shame." He replied, before reaching into a unit and withdrawing a box of cereal. Okida's mouth went dry. Although he had never been found of cereals, being on the run for the last three days without food had left him hungry for just about anything.

"That's cruel." He said angrily, taking the bowl away from Sonic as the blue hedgehog added a drop of milk. Sonic's method of interrogation seemed to be far more effective an anything the fiercest of G.U.N officers would be able to come up with. After a first few spoonfuls of cereal, Okida let slip a few details of his mission and then he sang like a bird when Sonic slid two pieces of bread into the toaster.

"It's a secret group within G.U.N itself." Okida began. "I first stumbled across its existence during the Grand Prix. They believe that the current Government is too soft in its foreign policies and seeks to overthrow it. They've tried to perform coup's many times in the past, but when it went wrong the efforts get blames on international terrorists." Tails had come up from his workshop a few minutes ago and was listening to every word. "These people are vicious; they believe that the world should be governed by one super body. I tell you, they're only one step up from Nazi's. Since the government began salvage operations within the Egg Fleet, they've been hording the mass majority of technology for themselves, creating superior Mech Walkers to the ones current in use in the military. If they try a coup with this kind of weaponry, they may very well succeed." He reached into his pocket and withdrew two CD discs inside a plastic cover. "These contain information downloaded from the personal computer files of one of their leaders, General Saddler. It reveals their conspiracy plot and the technical readouts of their Mech's. This, along with the other evidence I was able to gather, will expose them."

"Other evidence?" Tails asked sceptically. "What other evidence?"

"A fifty ton hunk of metal capable of levelling a small city block; something I acquired from someone who stole it from their armoury. That, with this stuff I've got here, will be enough to convict them for god knows how many years." He narrowed an eye, remembering an important factor; why he was here. "But to get this information to do any good, I'm going to need help." Sonic and Tails cast each other a glance.

"What sort of help?" They asked at the same time as Okida tucked the discs back into his pocket.

"I don't know who all their agents are. I can't trust the authorities at the moment; their spies riddle the establishment at the moment. The only thing I can do is deliver this information to the President himself. He's the only one with the authority I need to get these people. But I need to get it to him fast, who knows when they might try something." A smile crossed Sonic's face.

"I think we just might be able to help you in that department."

* * *

Returning to the very spot in the docks Maria had lead him to in his dream, Shadow paused to reflect on her words, finding them to repeat over and over in his head. Her visitation, either in the divine sense or nothing more than simply a dream, had shaken him far more than he would care to admit, even to himself.

Perhaps he was dwelling on it too much, letting himself sink deeper into a depression that had dogged him for five decades. He knew he would have to try and put her death behind him, but it was painful for him to let go, and besides, he did not want to forget.

He did not want to forget the injustices inflicted on the Ark civilians by the people of Earth, how simple minded fear had lead to those tragic events.

He stopped, correcting himself. It hadn't been the orchestration of the people's of Earth that lead to that. Ultimately, it had been because of the dark intentions of the Foundation Organisation and their dark deity, Krish Kra Pal. It was because of them, ordering a new body for inhabitation, that Project Shadow had been started. When they discovered that Prof. Gerald had no intention of delivering a weapon into their hands, they falsified documents to justify an invasion.

Shadow scowled, Krish Kra Pal had been the author of both the destruction of his life on ARK, and of the Chao massacre eight thousand years ago.

A loud humming noise reached his ears and he looked up to see a large swarm of military choppers heading towards the city from the horizon. He flipped himself back up to his feet and stared. These choppers crossed the bay and entered city air space, disappearing through the buildings. There was not especially troubling about helicopters above the city, Shadow saw them all the time, but it seemed strange to have so many. Within a few moments, a large G.U.N tanker began to pull into the bay, heading for the docks. This was a big once, far larger than the boats he had seen coming in and out of the harbour this morning.

Most of the people were still in their homes celebrating Christmas day with loved ones and didn't notice the colossal vessel move towards the city slowly, coming to a complete stop as it reached the water's edge. From his vantage point, the roof of an abandoned warehouse, the black and red Hedgehog good see a good deal of Walkers on the deck. But these were unlike any walkers he'd seen before, they were sufficiently larger, and painted bright red. Was this what Maria had lead him here to discover? He crouched, watching with curious interest.

A large iron door in the side of the ship opened and more of these new Mech's began striding down a large gangplank to the docks. There were even more walkers inside the side then there were on the top. These new machines proceeded to take up a defensive position along the dock, their large missile pads and machine gun turrets facing inward towards the city; like an army preparing to invade.

"Well this is new." He told himself, before sliding down of the roof and down to the ground. He didn't want to engage these people just yet, in case he was making an error in judgement, attacking innocent G.U.N forces making simple manoeuvres. The media would have a field day with that.

"Tango-sigma four calling headquarters…come in headquarters." One of the Walkers had it's glass cockpit open and the human pilot was standing up, speaking into the mike in his helmet. Shadow skated silently up to the Mech's legs, hiding in it's shadow, listening carefully. "Yes sir, troops in place. No interference from local peace keepers. Awaiting further orders." There was a brief pause. "Yes sir. Over and out." The pilot turned off the link and sat back down in his cockpit.

"Kernel, what are the orders?" Another pilot called over. Shadow darted between the large Walkers, keeping himself out of sight below the pilots line of sight.

"We wait until we receive word from the troops in the north. The General wants to make sure the ground to orbit cannon is seized before he signals the invasion force." Shadow's eyes widened at the words **_invasion force _**as the glass panel slid down over the cockpit. Now it had been confirmed that these pilots were not G.U.N soldiers, but rather Imperial collaborators. Shadow cared little for the war between the military and Eggman, a war that Sonic and his friends constantly got themselves involved in. But the black and red hedgehog thought that he should nip this little problem in the bud before innocent people got hurt. He held his arm out and fired a concentrated Chaos spear attack straight at the legs of one of the large red Walkers, knocking it over completely. Even as it crashed to the ground, he shot upward, slicing through several of them with a single effort. His spin dash attack rebounded off the side of their ship before bouncing right back through another two, tearing through their metal frames. These ones had tougher armour than regular Walkers, but to him it was nothing.

It did not take him long to tear his way through those on the docks before taking from the ship, giving those on deck only enough time to fire a fire pathetic shots before he shot through them, making them explode into tiny pieces. Seeing the commotion on the harbour, the choppers that had soured ahead did a u-turn and came straight back. Even these air bound enemies did little to hinder Shadow. The sky was no limit to him, not with Chaos Control fuelling his very being.

Vanishing into a green flare, the black and red hedgehog flew into the air, firing a chaos spear attack straight through the blades of a choppers. Causing to start spiralling towards the ground. These took even less time to demolish than the Mechs and soon the entire harbour as littered with burning wreckage. Standing on the tip of the ships bow, Shadow stared out across it with his armed folded. This scene reminded him so much of his past it was almost disturbing. Not too long ago he would have taken absolute pleasure here, inflicting destruction on the dogs of the military. But now, this battlefield just mad him feel more and more empty.

"Do you mind telling me what you're doing?" A voice asked as Sonic emerged out of his own Chaos control warp next to him. The blue hedgehog was still a novice in using the teleportation capabilities of Chaos Control, but he was a fast learner and could make relatively long jumps now and then.

"How did you know I was here?" The black hedgehog asked, looking back over his shoulder as the blue hedgehog joined him.

"I looked out the window and saw the fireworks." Sonic replied, gesturing to the wreckage around them. "I think you owe me a little explanation Shadow."

"These soldiers were planning an attack on the city. I stopped them." Sonic blinked, loosing his sudden angry stare. He looked like he was replying, but Shadow mind was suddenly miles away. He could sense a very peculiar chaos energy signature, coming from within the ship itself. A signal that almost seemed familiar. He couldn't place it, but he was sure he had sensed it before. The signal fluctuated, like was unstable. Shadow turned and crouched, touching the floor with his finger tips, feeling a sudden vibration in the ship itself.

"Are you even listening to me?" The blue hedgehog asked, walking in front of him. Before Shadow could answer, the entire vessel shook violently as something within it's hull smashed away at the inside. And then again, this time with even more ferocity, nearly knocking the ship over. "What the hell was that!?"

"Corporal!" A technician at a radar screen shouted up to his superior office who was looming over him. "I'm reading A.C online and acting on it's own, it must be within range of it's intended targets." The human military office smiled grimly, folding his arms behind his back.

"Good. As soon as it's mission is complete we'll be free of two of the greatest threats to our cause." With a loud crashing roar, the large doors that opened up into the hull tore open, sent flying into the air. Snaking up out of the gapping gorged hole came a large head on a long neck nearly encased completely in metal. Shadow looked up, recognising it in an instant, the energy signal now very familiar.

"It can't be…" He began with a dry throat.

* * *

Flip Card 1:

Name: Operation Artificial Chaos

Description: A project started by General Saddler to combat Sonic and Shadow. For specific details see next flip card.

(R&R)


	46. Episode 23, part 2

(I do not own Sonic X, etc)

Flip card 1:

Name: Cyber-Biolizard

Description: It's remains salvaged by General Saddler, the Biolizard had once been Prof. Gerald Robotnik's prototype of the ultimate life form. Damaged in a battle between Super Sonic and Super Shadow, Saddler repaired it with cybernetic technology.

* * *

"I don't believe it…" Shadow began, staggering backwards in a mixture of utter surprise and horror. The lizard towering over them as it tore it's way out of the ship was all too familiar. A salamander like appearance, with thick orange scaly skin, lumpy muscle underneath and a thin row of green, feather like quills running down its back. Its entire left arm had been nearly destroyed, colossal mechanical parts replacing the large paw and most of its lower limb, like they had all been sewn into its flesh. The damage the lizard had received when it had once been completely organic was shown by the machine replacements it had been equip with. The top half of its entire head had been destroyed and replaced by a complex set of machinery shaped like a jaw, a pair of red visors staring down at them from in-between two spikes of alloy. Down the entire length of it's tail a jagged scar had been cut right down to the bone and even that had been filled with segmented pieces of cybernetics, all connected together by large cables and wires. "The Biolizard!" The remains of the giant reptile had been torn from the ARK as it fell towards the Earth, yet the corpse was not destroyed when it collided with the atmosphere. It fell to the ground and had been discovered by General Saddler. Recognizing the creature's raw potential, he took its remains back to his base and over the last two years had steadily been rebuilding the creature. Making it faster, stronger and infinitely more powerful. The ship rocketed side to side before finally beginning to sink into the harbour under the weight. The two hedgehogs leapt off at the last minute, followed closely behind by the Biolizard who snaked onto land like a crocodile pulling itself up from a river

The creature roared into the air, _resurrected_, brought back to life to serve Saddler and his cause. It could clearly remember everything that happened, why it had died and more precisely who had brought about its death. It's large, snake its head arched down to peer at the two hedgehogs that stood before it, one red and black and the other a royal blue. The quills on it's back shuddered violently, bolts of lighting passing in-between them before it drew it's head back and spat forward, throwing it's jaws open and as it did so, a beam of the purest Chaos energy spewed forth. A force more deadly than anything they had faced before, Sonic and Shadow only managed to dive out of the way in time to avoid it destroyed them as it carried on, disintegrating several buildings before it rocketed out to sea, a huge water geyser exploding into the air.

"They turned it into a Cyborg." Sonic said, stating the obvious, before a wide goofy grin crossed his face. "That is so cool!" Shadow cast him a glare.

"What planet are you from?" He asked, before rolling to the side as the lizard sung it's paw down, trying to squash them under it. The black and red hedgehog was back on his feet in an instant, skating around the side of the beast as he drew his arm back, tensing his muscles before launching a powerful Chaos Spear attack straight at the large mechanical device on its back. From his previous battle on the ARK, he knew that that was the creature's weak point. It's life support system without which it's body could not possibly function.

To his dismay however, a thin shimmering egg shaped translucent object solidified around the creatures back, repealing the golden spears with ease.

Shadow paused, before skating in close as he leapt into the air, spinning his entire body around in a super spin, hoping to break the robotics himself. The result was just the same as before, a thin layer came into existence and repeal him away like his attack was nothing. It was obvious now that when rebuilding the creature, Saddler had decided to improve on it dramatically. Shadow didn't have long to contemplate this as he didn't see a place muscular tail swing around from behind and swat him away like a fly, sending him flying through the air, several buildings and finally into the ground itself.

* * *

"A trench coat…" Okida muttered sourly, pulling the collar further up to hide his face. "They promise to give me a hand, and all they hand me is a trench coat." Well, at least they had managed to provide him transportation across the country to Washington with a little help from Chuck. Still, a little assistance actually getting to the President would have been greatly appreciated. The captain was now only a few hundred feet away from the White house and the end of his mission. Okida had left his Mech back with Tails; the sight of a three story sized walker marching down the road towards the capital might have provoked unwanted attention.

Without it getting access to the White house was going to prove increasing difficult. From the rooftop of some nearby building, the Captain watched the presidential house just beyond a set of trees. Someone had taken the liberty of placing a whole platoon of Big Foot walkers on the lawn outside; not to protect the President the captain was willing to wager but rather to keep **_him_** out. Saddler was well aware of the threat that the discs the bat carried in his pocket posed and would do everything in his power to keep the truth from being revealed.

Going in through the front door was not an option, he'd be blasted to pieces by those Walkers before he crossed the fence and that would be that. The white house was also virtually impossible to enter stealthy either, they had security cameras monitoring every room and corridor, not to mention secret service agents patrolling the place. Still, the building was not impregnable and all he really needed to do was show the President the evidence and then disappear.

It sounded simple enough, but the captain was well aware of how difficult it actually was. Sighing, he slid down the side of a drain pipe to the street.

"From this point on, your on your own." Chuck told him when he reached the bottom. "Hope you get lucky." He added, before disappearing into the crowds. Okida watched him go, before tucking his coat up around himself.

"Well, here goes nothing." He told himself, walking out into the crowds. The coat was really beginning to hurt his wings, having them pressed hard up against his back so hard to conceal them. His wings were larger than those of an average mobian bat; they allowed him great mobility in the air and were not supposed to fold like that. Still, he could bear it just as long as he did not need this disguise for any extended period of time. The wings would be a dead give away if he had to spread them out.

It seemed Okida was in luck. Some of the guards around the outside of the building had Christmas day off, leaving security conveniently lessened around the fence. The vampire bat looked through the streets to see if any one was looking in his direction. The camera on the top of the fence rotated in a one hundred and eighty degree arch every five seconds, leaving a dead area behind them for three seconds. This almost seemed to easy, the bat thought to himself leaping into the air and over the fence. Swiftly he flew across the snow trying to leave as few foot prints as he could before ducking into a bush, discarding the trench coat he had be using, letting his large wings flex a little in the process.

Stealth came naturally to a bat. It was something their species was suited completely for. Free of the confines of the coat, Okida found he could move much more fluidly. Getting up the side of the building was not overly too difficult, getting inside it however would not be as easy. The windows had doors had motion detectors and sound monitors watching them constantly. Nothing would be able to get inside without setting off some sort of alarm. Which, the bat thought to himself with a large smile, could work to his advantage. Looking around his feet as he clung to the outside edge of the building, sticking to the shadows as he side stepped for something to throw to distract the security. He paused, now that wouldn't work. If he did that then the secret service would take the President to some underground stronghold and Okida would never see him again.

It would not be long before his presence was discovered anyway. This was the white house, the most secure building on Earth. Entering and leaving completely un-observed was an impossibility. What he really needed to do was get to the President before the alarm was raised, that way they wouldn't sprit him off before they had a chance to talk

Still, despite being the most secure place on earth, Okida knew he had to try something. Spreading his wings, he soured up the side of the building to the roof and quickly ducked behind an air vent as he saw two security personnel standing there. The two of them looked around when they heard the rustle of winds, but seeing nothing there, went back to their patrol. Pausing to make sure they weren't looking in his direction anymore, the captain slipped inside the air vent, finding a thick pillar of steam rising up from below. This vent undoubtedly lead to the kitchens, but luckily however he discovered that the vent veered off the left some way down.

From this point onward, he would have to be very quiet. Not a single sound would escape his body for a single lapse or loud exhaled breath would alert nearly every agent in the building to his presence. Crawling through the vents along the ceiling, the bat discovered a grating that lead into a corridor below.

Quietly he pressed one of his large ears against it. Most mobians had good hearing, but bats took it to the extremes. He could hear the foot padding of feet coming from down the corridor at the far end, some distance away from the grating. A lot of people were in the rooms either side as well.

He checked his wrist watch; it had been precisely five minutes since he entered the white house. He couldn't put off the confrontation any longer, he was as far into the white house as he could go without raising an alarm and if his estimations were correct, he was near enough to the oval office to attempt it. He took a few deep breaths, before plunging head first through the grating, landing on the floor with a loud thump. Someone down the far end of the corridor shouted something but by then Okida was already gone. Within moments alarms were being raised all over the building but the bat was nearly within arms length of the two wooden doors leading into the oval office. His mission was nearly over.

As he reached for the doors, there was a loud clicking sound and Okida felt someone pressing a gun against the back of his head.

"Nice try Captain." The bat knew that voice at once. It was General Saddler himself, the man who'd been masquerading as G.U.N's loyal general and all the while had been plotting the downfall of the Government, stealing technology from the Egg Fleet to construct his own superior Mech's. "I'll be taking those discs back now if you don't mind." Looking back over his shoulder, Okida could see the General himself holding a gun to the back of his head. He was surrounded by several of his men, all of them with their guns pointed directly out at him. Growling in frustration, the bat reached slowly into his pocket and withdrew the discs and with the utmost reluctance, handed them over to the general, who quickly passed them to the man nearest to him to conceal on his person. "Well now the Okida the charges are certainly mounting against you aren't they? Let's see, stealing a military walker and confidential files, resisting arrest multiple times and now breaking and entering the White house." The bat replied simply with a sneer as he put his hands up.

"You'll never get away with it Saddler." The human general didn't look impressed.

"How cliché, don't you get it Mobian scum?" The human reached into his pocket and withdrew two dices of his own. "These contain some reports I created indicating that you've been in league with Eggman since the beginning. I wonder what they'll do when they see these?" He lowered his voice as more security agents began rounding the corners of the corridor to see that the General had apprehended the intruder. "We've already won." That last comment was made with a foul amount of venom in his voice. "The Intruder's been apprehended gentlemen." The general stated, looking up to the security personnel that were beginning to gather, some of them out of breath. "An assassin and spy from the Eggman Empire." He added, giving the bat a contempt full glance. "So let's show his face to the President."

* * *

Sonic looked back for a second to see Shadow disappear, before he went in for a hack at it, racing around the beast hoping to keep it occupied long enough for it to lower it's defences. He had no such luck, The Bio Lizard's tracking devise that had been installed into it's new optical pieces was able to follow his movements easily and held it's partly mechanical limb up, waited for the right moment, before batting Sonic away like a cat with a ball of string.

"Well you showed him didn't you?" Shadow remarked sarcastically, helping the blue hedgehog out of the hole in thick concrete wall he had been smashed through. Sonic shook his head to dislodge from brick dust from his quills, feeling like someone had just run him over with a Monster truck ten times.

"It could have gone better, that's for certain." He replied, before a towering shadow fell over them, the colossal head of the BioLizard blocking out the sun above. It snarled, showing three rows of teeth, all of which were razor sharp and glinted in the sunlight. The creature reared its head back, the quills again burning with lightning. Before it could fire its attack however, a barrage of shots rang out and a swarm of missiles collided with its neck; forcing its mouth shut. The creature roared and turned to face its left hand side from which the projectiles had been fired from. Sonic and Shadow followed its gaze to find Okida's Yahger Mech standing on top of a nearly flat roofed building, its missile launch pads open with thick smoke rising from them. "Need any help?" A familiar voice asked over a loud speaker, yet it was clearly not Okida's.

"Tails?" Sonic asked in near exclamation. The fox had had little time to study the advanced controls of the Walker, but with the X tornado still in the shop, he had had little choice. Okida had leant the machine to him while he was doing business else ware. Besides, he was going to need all this machines advanced capabilities when facing this creature. The Biolizard roared again and swung its entire neck around, its quills burning again as it powered up and fired. The Yahger swung to the side narrowly avoiding the blast and fired another set of missiles, all of which impacted on the creature's shield without hurting it at all. "Tails look out!" Sonic yelled as the Biolizard reared itself up so it was resting on its muscular tail, before a swarm of red spheres formed around its head. This was one of its original attacks, one it had used against Shadow on ARK. These orbs of energy hovered in the air momentarily before flying straight at the Yahger, striking the machine head on, knocking it out of the air and into the sea. It was the fact that the jets had maintained themselves while the machine fell that kept the walker from vanishing all together and eventually the lift pushed it free and back onto the harbour, although now its movements were slow and sluggish. The blow had severely damaged its movement capabilities.

By now, the disturbance down by the docks had been detected by the police and military and Swat vehicles were already on their way. Their blaring sirens could be heard in the distance. Realising the need to get this fight away from the city before someone got hurt, Sonic reached down, picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it straight at the BioLizard's head. The creature roared and glared down at them. Shadow got the idea and fired a Chaos Spear. It didn't do any damage, but it did seem to infuriate the creature.

It screamed and advanced, hoping to trample them under foot and now that they had its attention the two hedgehogs turned and ran, making their way towards the bridge that lead out of the city and back towards the Mystic Ruins. The bride was still empty and luring the beast across would not be difficult.

Unfortunately for them, the creature was not as stupid as it looked. It figured out their attentions in moments, it's orders had been to engage the enemy and do as much damage as possible, as well as cutting off any escape routes.

It reared its head back and vomited a beam of chaos energy forward, a deadly laser flying through the air. Sonic and Shadow came to a screeching halt and watched as it crossed the bay in seconds and collided with the suspension bridge, the entire structure engulfed in purple flames in an instant, all of it erupted into a fire storm of flying brick dust and cables.

"We may have problem." Shadow stated as he watched the bridge collapsed into the bay.

"That's the understatement of the century." Sonic replied, looking up as the lizard towered over them. It slowly opened it's jaws, showing row after row of jagged teeth, dripping with saliva. "Nothing seems to hurt it anymore." Shadow narrowed his eyes, trying to come up with an alternative strategy very quickly. The last time they defeated it, they had been in their super forms and in their current states they would not last along against this new cybernetic version.

It wasn't as if they could simply find all seven Chaos Emeralds lying around. No matter how desperate a situation looked, Shadow knew that there had to be a was around it. It was one of the lessons Prof. Robotnik had taught him.

"It's life support system on it's back." Shadow , gesturing to the advanced machinery riddling the creature's spin. "We attack together." Sonic nodded and the two of them dived out of the way as a large mechanical paw came crashing down. Shadow skated to the side, gathering speed before darted directly to the right. Sonic copied the manoeuvre on the left, both leaping into the air and spinning right for the Prototype's back. The shield came flaring up again and as it received an attack from both sides it bent becoming egg shaped. The Biolizard roared, trying to bend it's neck right back to blast them but it couldn't manage the angle. The shield took a lot of punishment from the two spin dashes and just when it looked like it was on the verge of popping, two large laser turrets ascended from inside the beast itself and blasted the two hedgehogs simultaneously. Sending them flying backwards into the sides of buildings. It was an semi automatic weapon, put in place to remove irritants that put stress on the shield.

Sonic pried himself out a hole in the side of a warehouse wall, shaking his head to dislodge some brick dust from his quills. They'd almost had it. Another few seconds and they'd had burst through the shield, leaving the creature's life support wide open for an attack.

"This is NOT how I want to spend Christmas." He muttered to himself, trying to pry himself up. Just as he pushed himself out of the hole, the large shadow of a giant mouth full of jagged teeth looming over him, acidic saliva dripping out from between the scaly lips, scaring the ground below. Sonic swallowed hard.

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

The rampage continues as G.U.N tries to take on the Biolizard. Can Okida clear his name and exposure General Saddler? Find out next time on Sonic X, Goodbye Metal Sonic. Don't miss it!

(R&R)


	47. Episode 24, part 1

I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

(Last time on Sonic X)

"It's life support system on it's back." Shadow , gesturing to the advanced machinery riddling the creature's spin. "We attack together." Sonic nodded and the two of them dived out of the way as a large mechanical paw came crashing down. Shadow skated to the side, gathering speed before darted directly to the right. Sonic copied the manoeuvre on the left, both leaping into the air and spinning right for the Prototype's back. The shield came flaring up again and as it received an attack from both sides it bent becoming egg shaped. The Biolizard roared, trying to bend it's neck right back to blast them but it couldn't manage the angle. The shield took a lot of punishment from the two spin dashes and just when it looked like it was on the verge of popping, two large laser turrets ascended from inside the beast itself and blasted the two hedgehogs simultaneously. Sending them flying backwards into the sides of buildings. It was an semi automatic weapon, put in place to remove irritants that put stress on the shield.

Sonic pried himself out a hole in the side of a warehouse wall, shaking his head to dislodge some brick dust from his quills. They'd almost had it. Another few seconds and they'd had burst through the shield, leaving the creature's life support wide open for an attack.

"This is NOT how I want to spend Christmas." He muttered to himself, trying to pry himself up. Just as he pushed himself out of the hole, the large shadow of a giant mouth full of jagged teeth looming over him, acidic saliva dripping out from between the scaly lips, scaring the ground below. Sonic swallowed hard.

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO! GO! GO! GO! LET'S GO!

Episode 24: Goodbye Metal Sonic.

* * *

Forced into the Oval Office at gun point, Okida was forced roughly into a chair facing the President's desk. The bat couldn't see his face, but he was certain that General Saddler was smiling sadistically. Sitting behind the desk with his hands held out in front of him was Michael, the President himself. He sat there solemnly with a surprisingly stern look on his face. 

"The Intruder sir." Saddler began without moving his gun from the back of the Captain's head. "Obviously now, it has been confirmed that our Captain of Freelance here is nothing more than an Eggman Empire collaborator." Since the alarms had been raised in the white house, a lot of armed agents clad in swat gear had been filing into the building. Some of which were standing around the outside of the room, all seemed to have itchy trigger fingers just waiting to blow Okida's brains out.

"I must say I'm disappointed in you." The President stated sharply, staring at Okida with deeply disapproving eyes. "I truly thought you were a model solider, loyal to this country, seems I was wrong." Okida did not reply. Nothing he could ever say or do would help him now. It was better to keep quiet, at least until his partner made their move. A crude smile crossed his face. "I trust you have retrieved the data discs he stole?" The President asked, turning towards Saddler. The General nodded and reached into his pocket, withdrawing the two forged discs with which he planned to deli ever the final nail in the Captain's coffin, sending him down for life for a crime that Saddler himself committed. Giving Okida a sneering side glance, he handed them over.

Michael looked them over once, before shaking his head at Okida. Then without a word he turned and placed one of them inside his lap top computer. Clearly he planned to review the information that could have been passed into Doctor. Eggman's hands.

Okida held his breath. This was the moment of truth, where his entire future and possibly the future of the world was decided. The President's laptop was turned away from them, so no one could see exactly what he was looking at, only that he seemed intrigued by what he was reading. Suddenly he stopped, his eyes widening before glancing up at them all, his mouth hung open a little. After a moment he looked back at the screen to ensure that he hadn't misread, before slowly standing up, placing the tips of his fingers on the desk.

"Guards." Michael began and every armed man in the room turned to look at him. Okida's mouth went dry. "Place the General under arrest!" Saddler's eyes shot open in disbelief as at least a dozen guns were all pointed in his direction at once. The President turned his lap to around, showing the files that he had been looking at. The General gagged in utter surprise and horror. Those were the files on the real discs, the ones that revealed his plans and his intention to betray the Government. The most incriminating evidence that any one could have against him was all right there.

But how on earth had he handed them to the President? He had given those to his loyal thug. He turned to look back at him, who at that moment reached behind his head and pulled his face off, revealing it to be nothing more than a plastic mask. Underneath was the far fairer face of Topaz, a member of Freelance division. The General swore out load, dropping his gun. Bean and Bark just seemed to come out of nowhere and grabbed the General from behind, pinning his arms behind him. Okida let his head roll back and he laughed, standing up slowly to face Saddler. He narrowed his eyes at the astonished human and smiled.

"Gotcha." He said simply as the General was put in hand cuffs by secret service agents. "I apologise about the ruse sir." The bat added, turning towards the President. "But it was the only way to find out what we needed to about these people without alerting their spies that I was onto them."

"You Mobian bastard." The general snarled, struggling against those who were handcuffing his arms behind his back. "You've been playing me all along!"

"Naturally." Okida replied with a great deal of satisfaction in his voice. "You weren't that hard to outwit Saddler." The President sighed and stood up, walking around his desk.

"It seems I owe you an apology captain, I'll have the price on your head repealed at once."

"Thank you Mr. President. A few days on the run without food never hurt anyone." The bat replied sarcastically. The President ignored the remark and crossed over to Saddler and stared the traitor in the face.

"Why Saddler?" He demanded angrily. "Eggman wishes only to enslave the world, why help him conquer us?" The general snarled at him.

"Because, **_Mr. President, _**I was sick of putting up with the sacred whims to leaders who were too afraid of their responsibility to use their power the way is should be." The President raised an eyebrow questioningly not fully understanding what the General meant. "Before Eggman arrived, the United States had the most powerful and advanced military forces in the world, yet we continued to endure terrorist attacks from idiotic extremist groups without half a brain. Instead of using our power to wipe them out and gain the recognition that we deserve in the world, we let them thrive and prosper. Well not any more. Once Eggman's forces arrive, they will united the entire world under one banner." His frown grew into a superior smirk, his eyes lined with sadistic hate. "You may have me, but it doesn't matter. My comrades will already be rolling out the welcome matt for Dr. Eggman's invasion force."

"Take him away boys." Okida said causally and kicking and screaming as Bean and Bark dragged the General from the room with a fairly satisfied look on their faces.

"Here sir." Topaz began, handing Michael the correct second disc. "This displays locations of bases with hidden advanced Mech technology that Saddler had been hording, it would be in our bests interests to seize it." The President took the disc, before hesitating, glancing between the two of them.

"Was all of Freelance Division in on this?" He asked. Okida nodded.

"Right from the beginning sir." The bat replied. "We would have informed you, but since there was no way to be sure who was in on Saddler's little uprising, we had to keep quiet." Michael stopped and sighed, rubbing his fingers through his hair. It was times like this he wished he would get voted out of office at the next election, just so he could take a vacation from all of this.

"Captain Koji Naoko Okida." He began, his tone so sharp that the bat snapped to attention involuntarily. "In light of your unwavering service above and beyond the call of duty, I hereby bestow on you the rank of Major." It took several seconds for that to actually sink in and the bat was left standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Furthermore, I grant Freelance Division the right to any present and future Mech arsenals. I think I'll be needed you sometime in the future." With that, he left to follow Saddler's screams out of the room. Okida stood there, his eyes wide in complete shock. In the last five minutes, he'd just gone from most wanted man to Major of an Independent Unit with access to some of the most advanced fighting technology in existence. It was almost too much to accept at once.

"Congratulations **_Major_**." Topaz said with a coy smile, removing the rest of her disguise, revealing her blue military uniform.

* * *

Sonic rolled to the side to avoid a blast, before a thick muscular tail came tearing around swatting him from behind, sending him flying through the air and through several walls before filling crashing into the waters of the bay itself. 

Shadow soured to the side, gathering what energy he could spare into an attack before launching a Chaos Spear attack across the Biolizard's side. The yellow bolts simply rebounded of it's shield harmlessly, before it's long neck arched and it fired a beam of Chaos energy straight at him, the quills on the back of it's necks sparking with lightning.

Shadow caught the full brunt of it and the black and red hedgehog was sent crashing into the ground, leaving along cut straight through the concrete, a good deal of smoke rising from his body that lay still.

Sonic, who still couldn't swim tried desperately to pull himself out of the water struggling against the morning tide. He was about to sink, whena hard surface came up from under him, lifting the hedgehog out of the water. Looking down, Sonic saw that he was now sitting on the top of the Yahger Mech. Tails had struggled to get it working again after it took a direct hit from the Biolizard and even now it's movements were slow and sluggish, with several weapons system knocked offline.

"This isn't working!" Sonic coughed, wiping a good deal of sea water out of his quills. "We've hit this thing with everything we've got and it just keeps coming."

Shadow rubbed the back of his head, looking up just in time to see a thick tail slam into the building opposite, tones of rubble cascading down towards him. Disappearing into a Chaos Control warp, the black and red hedgehog narrowly avoided being crushed. The Biolizard arched his neck back, the quills running down to it's back burning with energy before it threw it's head forward, a beam of Chaos Energy lancing through the air colliding with several buildings in it's way. Each began crumbling in an instant, collapsing into thick piles of rubble, bellowing clouds of dust reaching into the sky.

Several police choppers came flying over the skyscrapers, bullets filling the sky as the received visual on their target. The bullets didn't even seem to annoy the creature, simply bouncing of it's skin like they were nothing. Involuntarily, the large laser cannon on it's back rotated around and fired several blasts straight at them. Most missed, however one struck the first across the tail, sending it tearing towards the ground. The pilots had just enough time to bail out with their parachutes before it smashed into the ground in a spray of fire.

By now, even G.U.N peacekeeper forces had been called in. Despite protests that it was Christmas day, a long line of tanks was rolling down main street towards the harbour and the creature reeking so much havoc. Seeing the destruction being reeked, people in the buildings around and in most of the city were filling the streets trying to get away.

"Any idea's?" Shadow asked as Sonic raced up beside him, dripping wet.

"It can't be invincible." Sonic remarked angrily, shaking himself like a dog o rid his fur of the rest of the water, but ended up making his fur all puffy. The Lizard roared again, before turning it's attention straight back towards them. It's scaly lips slowly pulling themselves back, revealing rows of sharp teeth. "We beat it before."

"Yeah, but that time we were both powered up by the Chaos Emeralds." Shadow added, before looking back. "And this new version seems even stronger than the first." That statement was confirmed the lizard screamed and fired another beam straight across it's right, the destructive force tearing up the road leading to main street, engulfing the tanks, reducing them to smouldering wrecks.

"Crap…" Sonic muttered, baring his teeth.

Tails tried to force the controls of Yahger Mech forward but found them completely frozen. Just how did Okida pilot this thing? It's hardware and weapons systems were more complex than anything he'd anything seen before. It was hard just getting it to move after the blows it had taken. The internal screens showed that the Walker had taken extensive damage and was close to collapse as it was. "Tails get out of here!" Sonic shouted up towards the machine as the lizard began pulling it's large bulk towards them, sliding over piles of rubble on it's belly like a crocodile. "This thing's too strong, get out of here before it tears you to pieces."

"Are you nuts?!" Tails asked, looking down at the blue hedgehog through the camera on the top of the Mech. "Leave you two alone to take this thing on?"

"We don't have time to argue." Shadow replied simply, placing his hand upon the side of the machine before teleporting them away before Tails had a chance to argue. A second later, Shadow reappeared alone by Sonic's side, leaving the Yahger Mech on the other side of the Mystic Ruins.

"Well, what now?" Sonic asked as the Biolizard stopped, open it';s jaws as it prepared to fire another blast straight at then. Sonic and Shadow braced themselves, preparing to jump out of the way at the last second so it wouldn't have time to adjust it's name. Just as it's quills were beginning to glow and spark with energy, a loud whistling sound flew through the air as several rounds of shelling artillery came hurtling down from the sky colliding with the creature, knocking it down to the ground. The shield surrounding it's life support system being the only thing that was keeping it safe. Sonic blinked in confusion and looked up as a large shadow began eclipsing the winter sunlight. Crossing the sky above them, breeching the thick clouds was G.U.N's pride and joy. The colossal battleship, built after the fall of the Egg Fleet, crossed over the city like a bronze titan, shadowing the ground below completely. The Government '**_G'_** logo painted on it's underside.

Giant Wing had had to nearly blow out it's engines to get here this quickly. It had been stationed up north were it was supposed that the Eggman Empire's forces would strike hardest. Luckily, it already had a large Mech Walker force on board, which began one by one dropping from a large hanger door on the side, parachutes slowing their decent.

"They don't know what they're up against!" Shadow hissed from between clenched teeth as he keep his gaze on the Biolizard, which was staring up at the falling Walkers with a curious look on it's half mechanical face. It screeched out load then all the turrets within shooting range on the Giant Wing turned around and fired several sounds of laser fire and rounds' of bullets straight at it. The Mech's that landed, most of them the large Hot Shot variety open their missiles bays and fired everything they had straight at the creature.

As the two hedgehog's on the sidelines expected, it's shield went up and note even a single missile got through. The Lizard screamed, arched it's head around and more balls of red energy gathered inside it's open mouth, before flying off in multiple directions, tearing the walker's around it to pieces in seconds.

Seeing the forces below getting trashed, the forest above turned it's big guns around and fired it's artillery straight down at the creature. The ground shook at the impact and Sonic was knocked off his feet by the sheer force. The Biolizard however held up under the blast, as closer as it was and continued to decimate the Walker's around it, who by now was trying to desperately defend themselves.

The fortress fired again and again and again, causing massive ground vibrations and shook the entire city below and a good deal of the Mystic Ruins. But had very little effect on the Lizard, who after laying waste to the Walker army around it, turned it's attention towards the irritant above.

Before either Sonic or Shadow could stop it, it looked straight up at the battleship above as it's quills began to burn with energy. Sonic dived forward to do something, anything, a beam shot from between the Biolizard's jaws and tore a hole straight through the ship, emerging out the top as it's destructive force emptied straight out through it. Giant Wing tilted violently to the side before the beam finally dissipated and it began to slowly fall towards the ground, smoke and fire quickly consuming it's bulk.

Both hedgehogs watched in horror as it, consumed now completely by fire, crashed into the bay. A thick wave radiating away from the metallic corpse as it sank into the water, smoke still rising into the sky. The Biolizard let it's head roll back again and it screamed a victory screech, it's slathering yellow tongue arching in it's mouth.

Sonic leapt up to the top of one of the few buildings left standing around the harbour to see a few lifeboats make their way slowly away from the smoking wreck. There were a good few of them, but hardly enough to account for the whole crew. Sonic waited for a moment to see if anyone else would try to make it off, but then the reality finally hit to him. There was no one else.

"We have to stop it." Shadow muttered to himself as the creature's attention was slowly drawn back to them.

Amy Rose watched the fireworks from the relative safety of the shores of the Mystic Ruins. She had been on her way to Tails workshop to celebrate Christmas with the guys. After she'd witness the Government's pride and joy get blown out of the sky it became obvious that was where Sonic would be.

She peered across the water to try and get a better look, and gasped when she saw the giant head of the Biolizard screeched above the dust clouds before it's jaws flew open and it fired a beam of energy directly at one of the tallest sky scrappers that towered above the city. Within moments, the towering structure had been cut completely in half, it's upper half crashing to the ground in a bellowing cloud of dust.

"This thing can reduce Station Square to rubble in ten minutes if we don't do something." Sonic whispered, clenching both fists.

* * *

Flip Card one:

Name: Amy Rose

Age: 17

Sex: Female

Species: Hedgehog

(R&R)


	48. Episode 24, part 2

****

(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)------Metal Sonic fans, tissues at the ready please!

* * *

Flip Card 2:

Name: General Saddler

Age: In his early forties

Sex: Male

Species: Human

Description: Masquerading as G.U.N's chief operator, General Saddler is in truth the head of a vicious group hidden within the military itself. A group that wishes to see Eggman exact his rule over the globe.

* * *

Nothing seemed able to stand up to the furious destruction the Biolizard unleashed, it's furious attack; despite Sonic and Shadow's best efforts engulfed nearly have the city. Civilians were fleeing in terror as the colossal cyborg-Dinosaur lumbered down main street, any forces that tried to move against it were reduced to smouldering ashes. Half the city was in the ruins now, forever rendering the mass majority of Station Square inhabitable.

Nothing Sonic tried seemed to work. The creature's skin was impervious to attacks and it's powerful blasts levelled whole city blokes at a time. If this kept up, Station Square would only last a few more minutes.

Shadow wasn't having much luck either. His attacks weren't working, they simply rebounded of it's shield, doing more damage to the surrounding building than to the creature.

"I can think of over a million places I'd rather be right now." Sonic screeched, darting behind the side of a building before a blast came screaming at him, tearing up the road replacing it with a deep ditch. Why couldn't they at least hurt this thing? When they'd faced it on ARK they'd been able to at least make it bleed.

From the Mystic Ruins across the bay, Metal Sonic watched the fires consuming the city. His memories circuits told him that this screen was reminiscent of that time when he used the Master Emeralds power to turn himself into Metal Overlord and with that dark energy, he attacked Station Square. A good deal of buildings had been decimated in his attacks. Now he knew how wrong he was and something inside him told him that he had to do everything in his power to stop this. It was…just the right thing to do. He clenched both metallic fists. Perhaps there was more of Sonic in him than he realized.

Shadow leapt to the top of a building and fired another Chaos Spear directly at the life-support system, only to have the shield once again block his attack. This was insane, nothing was working.

Suddenly, his brain had a storm. He snapped his fingers. That just might work!

Leaping off the side of the building, he skated downward and soured straight towards the Lizard as it clawed it's way up the main street, smashing buildings and entire cars in the process. This had to be timed just right, or this was going to be all over, and not in a good way.

The Biolizard twitched it's head as it saw the hedgehog approach and rotated it's entire neck around, the mouth already open. The quills on it's back began burning with lightning and bolts swapped back and forth between the teeth.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow yelled into the air, vanishing in a green haze, attempting to break through the Biolizard's shield by teleporting past it. The attempt not only failed; but because the shield consisted completely of chaos energy the black and red hedgehog received a full blast of highly unstable energy straight through his body. He convulsed in pain, screech out load, before being thrown back violently straight into the side of a vacant truck, leaving a shadow shaped impression in the metal.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled out as the beast towered over the black hedgehog, raising a paw ready to smash the near unconscious hedgehog into the ground. Sonic only had a few seconds to do something, but no attack in his arsenal seemed capable of even denting the creature. He had to come up with something new, **_in the next five seconds!_**

"If it works for Shadow…" He began to himself, holding his arms out in front of himself, gathering energy like he was going to us Chaos Control, but directed out through his palms straight at the lizard, hoping that he might use Chaos spear like Shadow.

The effect proved more unique than the blue hedgehog was counting on. Instead of deadly yellow darts forming around him, ready to fly forward, a blue aura surrounded his entire body growing in strength. He convulsed as a pure aqua beam rocketed forward into the air, white lightning spinning around it like a tornado. The lizard grunted in curiosity, looking up surprised before it straight him directly on the head, sending it straight down to the ground. Shadow managed to regain some wits just in time to avoid being slammed into the ground by a large scaly chin, rolling to the side before back flipping to his feet. "Woah…" Sonic gasped, blinking, looking at his steaming palms.

"And what do you call that?" The black hedgehog shouted up to him as the lizard began slowly pulling itself upward, now profoundly irritated. Sonic was silent for a minute, before a smile crossed his face and he clenched his fists.

"The Sonic Wind." He replied, before back flipping down to the street, landing directly beside Shadow. The Biolizard roared in anger, righting itself. "I don't know about you, but I've just about it with this thing."

"Same here." Shadow said back, clenching a fist himself before nodding and the two of them turned back to the lizard, who arched his neck preparing to fire another blast in their faces. "So what you say, what to try together?" Sonic nodded, before holding both hands out in front of himself as Shadow did the same, their synchronized energies building.

The combined two attacks screamed forward, spinning together like dance partners, a glowing point marking the fatal blow as it crashed into the Biolizard head first. The blue energies of the Sonic Wind and the gold of a Chaos Spear merged, exploding in a huge firestorm. A colossal amount of smoke went flying up into the air, reaching into the creature as the creature's groan was muffled by the bang. Amy watched from the top of a building, her hammer in her hands. What she too late already?

A swarm of military choppers were already on route to Station Square to help the local garrison forces defend it from what reports described as, '**_Godzilla born again'. _**With over three dozen Mech Walkers loaded up, swinging on thick metal cables on the underside, Okida felt fairly confident that he would arrive in time to make a difference. He only hoped that this Yahger Mech was still where he left it. Flying alongside their air born convoy was an escort of flight capable walkers, Flying Dogs. All flying in a V-formation around them.

He knew what this threat was. After a quick review of the files on the disc, it showed that Operation **_Artificial Chaos _**was a project started by Saddler to defeat Sonic and Shadow, the two beings that would have inevitably stood in his way. In the distance, on the bay where Station Square, or it's decaying rubble stood, there was a sudden flash of blue and gold followed by ear shattering scream the pierced the heavens. Okida pressed his ears to the side of his head, his acute hearing picking it at far higher a pitch than the other soldiers.

Leaning out of the window, Okida peered past to see what was going on. The glow had died down by now, and only a steady pillar of steam was rising into the air like a black mountain.

Sonic, having covered his face with his arms, looking past his limbs to see if it had any effect and as the smoke clear, a large grin crossed his face. It had worked, wonderfully well in fact.

The creature's mechanical arm had been completely blown off and a good deal of flesh torn from it's shoulders, exposing bone and wires interweaving the skeleton. The burnt ends of cables sparking out everywhere By the way it's neck was twisting, it's mouth screaming violently into the air, it was obvious it was in a lot of pain. Yellow blood that looked more like bile was spilling out onto the street in a thick ooze. A smile crossed Shadow's face from ear to ear.

"Looks like we disarmed…." His attempt at a one liner froze in his mouth as a deep glow began emitting itself from the beast's eyes as it was instantly surrounded by a red aura. A low roar like distant thunder growling in it's throat as it focussed the chaos energy in it's body. "No way in hell…"

The two hedgehog's watched in disbelieve as it's mechanical arm re-grew from the ends of the shattered metal, the cruel steal talons reappearing without a single scratch. New skin and muscle began to cover the wounds and within seconds, the creature was as good as new.

"That can't be good…" Sonic began, both ears falling to the side of his head as the Biolizard reared into the air with his neck and screeched.

"You're beginning to make a habit of stating the obvious." Shadow muttered before the creature charged at them as fast as it's two limbs could carry it, the large muscular tail smashing into the side of a building behind it.

The fight that began in that instant lasted only a minute. Unable to find the time to concentrate, Sonic and Shadow were smashed in every direction imaginable, beaten completely black and blue **_(pardon the pun.)_**

Lying on the ground, hardly able to move their limbs, the lizard moved in for the kill, preparing to blast them with it's strongest attack, hoping to finish the two of them off right now. The quills on it's neck sparked and it's neck arched, beams of light being drawn between it's teeth. The very ground beneath them trembling, the pieces of stone jumping up and down.

Without a single moments hesitation, Metal Sonic fired his boaster rockets and soured through the air, intercepting the deadly blast. Sonic looked up, cried something, telling his robotic clone to move out of the way. But Metal Sonic did not budge, spreading his arms out wide as he prepared to take the blast head on. Shadow pushed himself to his feet, already mid way through Chaos Control trying to save him, but even his efforts were to last. Metal threw up an energy shield and fired a energy beam of his own in an attempt to divert the attack. His own beam flew through his shield effortless, after first rocketing forward from the cavity in his chest, colliding with the deadly oncoming attack.

For the second during which the energy made contact with Metal's body, there was absolutely silence, like the world had freeze framed. Before a deafeningly loud bang tore through the air and Sonic watched in horror as the shield dissipated and Metal Sonic was ripped to shreds in an instant, his mere presence disrupted the beam just enough so it missed Sonic, Shadow and Station Square altogether, flying out across the bay to finally end on the horizon. First his hands and legs began to flake off, burning like ash. Then the rest of his legs vanished, his body ripped to the side. The left arm, gone instantly after that moment before finally the rest of him was blasted into oblivion.

What was left of the robotic hedgehog's crumbled boy fell to the ground, crumbling into charred ash as it hit the ruined concrete. All that remained solid of his body was the head, the quills scorched off and half of the facial armour gone. Most of his optics had been burnt away, and parts of his limbs lay scattered here and there. The eyes, still visible for a moment, blinked red before disappearing completely as Metal Sonic's systems went offline.

"Metal…" Sonic began, the finality of it all dawning on him as he fell to his knees, his arms falling lifelessly beside him. "No…it can't." Shadow just stared with an open mouth, before clenching both fists and looking back up at the Biolizard, who by now was towering over them like some ominous doom, raising it's metallic paw up, preparing to smash them into the ground like some insects. Tears began welling up in the blue hedgehog's eyes as he watched the corpse, trying to refuse what he had just seen with his own two eyes, but was forced to embrace it none the less. For the most part, he felt cold. Empty, devoid of feeling. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" his scream broke the world, and suddenly the emptiness was replaced by a burning anger unlike anything he had ever experienced before. In a single second it was over him and nothing or nobody was going to stop him from tearing this creature limb from limb.

The lizard smashed it's paw down, feeling their bodies crunching into the ground beneath it's palm. And just as it did so, beams of piercing light began radiating away from it's claws. The creature looked confused, before a force of sheer wind threw it backwards. The Biolizard stumbled backward, screeching as a white figure began rising like a phoenix from the ashes below, clad in a white aura that burned so intently it seemed to engulf the entire city. It was a hedgehog, with jagged quills and glowing fur. The Biolizard could sense a tremendous amount of active chaos energy within it, enough to challenge it's own supply. The hedgehog opened is' eyes showed narrowed green silts glaring at him in intense anger. Like a second sun, the white hedgehog rose upwards into the air, unthinkable power burning between it's fingers.

The lizard didn't know where this new hedgehog had come from, but didn't quite care either. It tilted it's head back, the quills it's back sparking again as it powered up another blast.

"Not this time." The hedgehog stated, it's voice rippling like two people were speaking at once. It held out a hand, the palm flat towards the Biolizard as it's attack powering up reached it's peek and it threw it's head forward, another beam of light lancing out from between it's teeth. The blast never even reached the white hedgehog as it simply reflected off a shimmering shield surrounding its body, dissipating into nothing.

The Biolizard didn't even have time to look confused as the white Hedgehog soured forward, landing a kick straight against the side of it's head. The blow seemed small, but had enough force behind it to throw the cybernetic creature clear off the ground. Tumbling across the harbour, the Biolizard landed half in and out of the bay, scratching at the scarred ground trying to pull itself back up to solid ground.

Nazo, a composite being created by the merging of two personalities that couldn't be more different, only felt one thing. The one thing that the two hedgehogs that had created it had felt when they joined. Complete and utter rage.

His arms spread out wide and white fire burned between his fingers, before he cast them forward, sending a blast of purest chaos energy coursed forward, striking the Biolizard across the head, knocking completely sideways, to the side of a warehouse, all the windows inside the building shattering. Racing in, Nazo delivered a solid punch to it's large scaled front doing an intense amount of damage to it's rib cage. Nazo didn't stop there through, he flew around the side, blasting the side of it's life support system. The shield protected it, but it was plain that the blast had put it's defence under extreme pressure. Nazo did a U-turn and attacked again, this time with a more powerful attack.

Again the shield flared up, refusing to budge but near the breaking point. Fuelled by his rage, before he even finished his blast, fired another one out of his free hand and finally the shield burst. Screeching the lizard pulled itself violently to the side, narrowly avoiding severe damage to it's life support.

Nazo was beyond all reasoning now. The word mercy never entered his mind. As far as he was concerned, the very word did not exist. The white hedgehog unleashed a vicious wrath upon the creature, hitting it with a multitude of blasts that did a tremendous amount of damage each and every time. The Biolizard shrieked, desperately backing up towards the waterfront, it's shield doing everything it could to project it's vital systems.

Forcing it even further back, Nazo flew directly into the centre of the street and with s glare of utter hatred on his face, held his arms out in front of himself. Gathering energy, then threw his palms forward, an invisible blast rocketing through the air, turning entire buildings into falling rubble instantly and sending the lizard flying off the side of the harbour and into the water. The water flew up over the side of the front, parts of ships and boats smashing onto the roofs of warehouses.

The Biolizard slipped down, disappearing into the darkness in an instant. Amy had seen the whole thing from a distance. She had never seen either Sonic or Shadow that angry before. What could possible have driven them to such… As she moved across the rubble ridden street, something round touched her foot. Looking down, she could see it was the severed head of Metal Sonic, nearly burnt to a crisp.

Nazo narrowed his eyes as a loud groaning began to emanate from the sea below him, a faint red glow burning beneath the waves. A groan that increased in volume with each passing moment. The white hedgehog blinked and looked up towards the sky. Thick clouds were beginning to gather, becoming the gigantic black sky. The distant forks of lightning burning far above. Thunder blasting down towards the ground like a bass drum. The very light from the sun above began to slowly disappeared, the ruined city around him becoming as dark as night,.

With a spray of foam, the Biolizard's head burst out of the water and fired a blast of white energy straight forward. It's speed catching the white hedgehog completely off guard, sending him flying on the deadly end of it into the sky. Crashing through a wall, Nazo ended up lying across the deck of some room on the hundred and eighth floor of a skyscraper. Covered in brick dust and snow, a thin trail of blood running from the edge of it's mouth.

Screeching, the creature pulled itself out off the water, two large lumps on either side of it's life-support system boiling up like. The muscle underneath the scaly skin stretching and compressing, distorting as a secondary mode of combat activated; a protocol to be activated in case of dire emergency. Bones began stretching along the underside of the arms, the fat, stumpy fingers stretching out and arching, the metal replicate following suit. In an instant, a thick layer of soft skin stretched between each fingers, finishing a new set of bat like wings replacing each arm.

As Nazo pulled himself up, shaking the brick fragments out of his quills, the beast testing the flexibility of it's new limbs before turning to look up the building. A screech escaped it's mouth, before it took to the air; souring up the side of the building towards the white hedgehog.

"Bring it!" Nazo snarled, gathering two energy orbs between his fingers and leaping down to meet his opponent.

* * *

(In Chris' voice)

Metal Sonic, once a hated enemy sacrificed himself to save them! Is he gone forever? Will the enraged Nazo prevail against the Biolizard? Fine out next time on Sonic X, **_the Final bout'_**. Don't miss it!

(R&R)


	49. Episode 25 finale

(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)

* * *

S.O.N.I.C GO! 

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO! LET'S GO!

* * *

Last time on Sonic X: 

With a spray of foam, the Biolizard's head burst out of the water and fired a blast of white energy straight forward. It's speed catching the white hedgehog completely off guard, sending him flying on the deadly end of it into the sky. Crashing through a wall, Nazo ended up lying across the deck of some room on the hundred and eighth floor of a skyscraper. Covered in brick dust and snow, a thin trail of blood running from the edge of it's mouth.

Screeching, the creature pulled itself out off the water, two large lumps on either side of it's life-support system boiling up like. The muscle underneath the scaly skin stretching and compressing, distorting as a secondary mode of combat activated; a protocol to be activated in case of dire emergency. Bones began stretching along the underside of the arms, the fat, stumpy fingers stretching out and arching, the metal replicate following suit. In an instant, a thick layer of soft skin stretched between each fingers, finishing a new set of bat like wings replacing each arm.

As Nazo pulled himself up, shaking the brick fragments out of his quills, the beast testing the flexibility of it's new limbs before turning to look up the building. A screech escaped it's mouth, before it took to the air; souring up the side of the building towards the white hedgehog.

"Bring it!" Nazo snarled, gathering two energy orbs between his fingers and leaping down to meet his opponent.

Episode 25: The Final 'Bout!

* * *

"HOLY CRAP!" Okida swore, watching the light show as their flying convoy made it's way on the straight course for the city. A thick thundering cloud had gathered overhead and bolts of lighting were lancing down towards the ground as something or someone exchanged monumental blows, lighting up the sky as they did so. 

Most of Station Square had been evacuated by now, leaving only empty buildings standing as spectators in the clash between the titans. Skyscrapers broke apart in seconds, crumbling to the ground below.

Nazo's mind was so full rage he didn't even care if there were any people still trapped inside them. His senses weren't even registering, only a burning hatred that filled every cell in his body could be felt.

The air born Biolizard soured like a cybernetic dragon across the ruins of the city, firing several blasts at the single pinnacle of white light that came charging at it. The ground shook as Amy darted underneath an overstretched bridge cradling Metal Sonic's disfigured head in one arm and holding her hammer in the other.

"Sonic stop!" She yelled up at him, but of course her scrams were drowned up by the thundering above. Even if he had heard her, Nazo was to far gone in his anger top even register her voice. All he saw was red.

Couldn't he see he was contributing to the destruction of Station Square. Nearly every building was crumbling now as the two super powers battled for supremacy. Amy had to get up there and make him listen, before he did something he'd regret.

The lizard fired an energy beam from it's jaws and Nazo spun his entire body around deflecting the attack. The combined energies shook Station Square down to it's foundations, forcing some buildings over and send up tremendous turbulent winds. Winds that rocked the choppers closing in on the city, nearly making them drop the Walkers they were carrying.

Reaching for a pair of binoculars, Okida peered up at the two blurry objects he could just about seer exchanging blows above the city. From here, he could see just about what looked like a Dragon and some white dot he couldn't make out.

Nazo took out of the lizard's tail and tossed the entire giant over his shoulder, slamming it directly into the side of a building. He didn't stop there, flying backward with his arms spread. The sky lit up with a thousand light bolts that tore through what was left of the building, razing it to the ground with the Biolizard still trapped inside it.

Amy had considered racing up to the roof of that building, but now the roof was ground level that was out.

"Sonic. STOP IT!" She yelled up at the white hedgehog descending towards the large creature that had used it's colossal wings to shield itself from harm, pushing itself upright before reading it's body for flight again. He pin hedgehog was forced to dive out of the way as Nazo collided with the quickly thrown up energy shield, using his momentum to try and break it. "SONIC!" Amy cried again and for a brief moment, Nazo cast her a side glance before the Biolizard's tail came hurtling around, smashing the white hedgehog into the ground with a loud thud.

"Remain here until I give the order." Okida ordered, exerting his new authority as major over other captains for the first time as the glass slid shut over the glass of a Big Foot Walker and the Mech came to life. This outdated machine was by no means as fast, armoured and lacked sufficient fire power but at the moment it was all he had. With a loud clank the Mech dropped down to the ground and began striding through the cascading ruins forwards the area they had observed the two fighting things take a dive. The bat wanted to get an assessment of the situation first before he started sending men into what was obviously a dangerous area.

The lizard swung upwards and arched it's neck, preparing another blast. Nazo began to pick himself up, but even by the time he'd have made his way to his feet the blast would have hit him.

Acting on instinct, Amy threw his arm using her full weight. The blunt weapon spun through the air and collided with the lizard's lower jaw, knocking his entire head to the left. The attack was deflected off, lancing through a building and shooting out to sea.

Nazo shook his head to regain some feeling in it before turning to do battle once again, before Amy grabbed his arm and pulled him back to face her.

"Sonic stop it!" He said, before drawing her free arm back and slapping him across the face. Whatever rage held the white hedgehog dissipated a little, allowing his eyes a decent level of clarity.

Nazo shook his head, suddenly remembering exactly where he was.

"What…" He began, his voice echoing as Sonic and Shadow spoke together. Amy was about to say something before Nazo looked up, seeing the Lizard sour into the air, disappearing into the black clouds, concealing it's presence from sight. There was a brief moment of silence before the light arched in one place and the clouds parting in a red glow. Nazo grabbed Amy and flew out of the way as a beam of energy rocketed downward, striking the ground with tremendous force, carving a hole straight through the tarmac.

Rage taking over his sight again, after putting Amy down, the white hedgehog flew straight up into the sky again with a fist drawn back.

* * *

Marching into the interrogation room, The President watched through the hidden glass window at the General sitting alone inside a separate chamber. He looked tired and very angry, but hardly defeated. His uniform had been removed and he been handed standard prisonware; two armed guards stood inside the room with him. 

"It took some gentle persuasion…" Bark remarked, grinding his fist into an open palm suggestible as the President asked for a full report."But we got the information out of him." He guestured towrds Bean, who had done the questioning.

"It seems this group the Major's been investigating are widely know, call themselves the **_Elite_**. A secret organisation had stretches back to the French Revolution and from what Saddler says, we have these guys to blame for every major war in Earth's history." Bean continued, looking at the notes in his hand. "They secretly started world war's one and two in an attempt to weaken Europe for their take over. Each time America stepped in to put a stop to it, so they turned their attention to the United States. Since then they've been working behind the scenes, slowly corrupting democracy to suite their needs."

"These people are the very personification of the word _'conspiracy'." _Topaz added, giving the former general a glare over his shoulder. "They have regiments all over the world, their fingers in crime, terrorism and politics." The President sat down, looking now more confused than ever, his eyes searching for the answer in his already jumbled mind.

"But why?" He asked eventually. "I don't understand."

"Their ultimate goal is simple." Rouge began, folding her arms. "They want the same thing as Eggman. They'd tried several times to seize power, but each attempt failed and was quickly blamed on international terrorists."

"And then Eggman arrived." Michael said in nearly a whisper. "So they side with him, seeing his robotic armies as a way of conquering the world quickly." He sighed out load, leaning back in his chair. "How did they get away with it for so long? I didn't know anything about them before today."

"They've been corrupting our Government for decades. Presidents past may have been under their influence. You yourself might have been, in some way, without realizing it." Bean remarked, adding the last part quickly as the President gave him a sour glare. "They're really bad people, let's just leave it at that."

"And what can we do to stop them?"

"Very little I'm afraid. We have their head honcho here, but that won't do much to stop his underlings from carrying out their plans. All we can do is prepare, and cross our fingers."

* * *

Nazo landed a punch against the side of the Biolizard's head, before souring to the side to avoid a swipe with it's tail. The two super powers tore through the sky, exchanging blows, some of which would tear any normal person apart. The white hedgehog had cuts covering his entire body, a trail of blood running down his cheek from his mouth and his glow had died down from a blazing white to a near dull grey. 

The Biolizard hadn't escaped undamaged either. It's head and belly were covered in thick bruises, deep gorged longs along it's remaining organic wing.

Okida landed his Mech in what he believed to be the shattered remains of main street, the crumbling remains of buildings beginning to collapse all around him. The wind level this far into the city was ridiculous,. Even his heavy Big Foot was beginning to get pushed backwards.

"Hey…is that you Okida?" A voice over his intercom asked. The bat blinked and looked out the side of his cockpit as the large Walker came marching out of the giant bellow clouds of dust and smoke that clouded the area. It was his Yahger Mech, and by the sound of the voice piloting it, Tails was inside.

"Yeah I'm here." The vampire bat replied, sliding his Big foot to the side was a falling piece of rubble that threatened to crush him from above. Next to him, Okida could see exactly how much taller the Yahger was than the ordinary verity walker. "What going on here?" Before Tails had a chance to answer that question, the radar built into both Mech's registered an incoming. A very large incoming. Dodging to the side, they narrowly avoided being flattened under the Biolizard was Nazo dove into it, slamming it's back into the ground.

Batting the white hedgehog away with it's tail, the dragon like creature flipped the right side up and charged at Nazo as he rebounded of the side of a building. Both combatants were loosing energy fast but neither showed any signs of backing down. The Biolizard literally couldn't, it wasn't in it's nature to let prey escape it's grasp and it's programming told it to terminate the white hedgehog as soon as possible.

Nazo couldn't quit either, by now anger had consumed his entire being. Rationality and mercy had been removed, replaced by a furious void to numbness that demanded the destruction of the cybernetic creature.

The lizard searched, nearly upon him; and blind with absolute rage, Nazo gathered every ounce of his energy in his hands. All of it, even the energy needed to keep him alive. The orbs of power burned between his fingers, reflecting his hate.

"SONIC STOP!" Amy cried out but it was too late. Nazo fired the attack straight at the Biolizard and every was instantly bathed in a blinding white light. The ground shook like a thousand earthquakes had gripped it all at once. The Biolizard screamed as the attack hit him, but soon it's screams died away into nothingness. The sheer force of the explosion tossed both Mech's though the air, sending them far down the street and into the side of an abandoned building, the Yahger with it's leg trapped underneath a large collection of torn up trucks.

Those for miles around could see the light, but only for a moment, before it died away and everything was suddenly still. Amy let his arms down from shielding her eyes and looked around. All that remained of the Biolizard was a crumbing skeleton of a dinosaur like creature on the ground, the mechanical components to it's body completely gone. But Nazo himself was nowhere to be seen.

The pink hedgehog looked around for him, but everything was still now. Even the brick dust was beginning to settle now, leaving a thin covering of brown over everything around. Some fire hydrants had burst with thin geysers erupting into the air. Station Square hadn't been this badly damaged since Perfect Chaos had flooded it.

Lying amongst the rumble, half his body covered with dust was Sonic, his quills in a complete mess and cuts covering his arms and legs. A simple dot of blue amongst a chaos of brown. The way he was sprawled out over the ground gave the instant impression of a puppet who had had it's strings cut.

"Sonic?" Amy began in almost a whisper, before running up to his side. The blue hedgehog had his eyes closed and his mouth slightly ajar. He was breathing, but so roughly, like it was an extremely had chore for him. "Sonic, come on wake up!" The pink hedgehog began, nudging his body, trying to force him to his feet. Sonic didn't move; he just lay there like a rag doll.

* * *

"As far as I can tell." The doctor began, staring up at the stasis tank they had had little option but to get Sonic inside. It was a single round glass tank filled with liquid. Sonic was floating inside it, electrodes attached to his body, the wires leading up into the top of the tank. An oxygen mask was trapped to his muzzle, a machine at the side of the tank monitoring his breathing. "He's in some kind of comma, but his brainwaves are extremely active for someone in his condition." The human gestured towards some charts on the wall, with the line arching almost painfully towards the top levels of the graph. "Normally, Comma victims do have some brain activity. But hardly this much. I'd expect these kind of readings from a man hyped on some hallucinogenic." 

Neither Amy of Chris was listening. Both of them simply stood there with worried looks on their faces as the blue hedgehog floated there before them. He'd been like that for hours now and neither of them had made it a secret that they were worried. Okida had managed to get Sonic air lifted to the nearest military hospital after the Biolizard had been dealt with. The bat was there now, standing at the back of the room with his arms crossed. Tails, Chuck, Cream, Vanilla, Emerl and Helen were also there. Once word had gotten out about Sonic's fatal condition, the security personnel couldn't have stopped them from coming in.

Chuck seemed busy, hunched over the charred remains of Metal Sonic that he had gathered from the scene. The head was the only part of the robotic hedgehog's body that remained more of less intact, still with some components inside the brain that had managed to escape undamaged.

"When will he wake up?" Cream asked innocently, looking up hopefully at the doctor, who hesitated in his answer.

"I'm afraid I can't say." He began finally, watching with a pit in his stomach as the young rabbit's face fell. "It varies with each person, so we'll just have to wait. He could wake up tomorrow if we're lucky." That brightened the rabbit's face a little, but did little to ease Tails. He knew perfectly well that some comma victims could stay asleep for months on end, maybe even years.

Shadow hadn't been located either. G.U.N had searched the entire city for survivors and not so much as his body had been found. Mech 's were still searching the rubble, so a small slimmer of hope remained that the black hedgehog would be found.

Chuck whistled to himself, before having another go at the complex technology that was Metal Sonic.

"Eurika!" He stated proudly to himself as with a loud buzz, Metal Sonic's head came offline and the eyes blared a bright red. He was still in stasis mode, but it was a start. From there, there was a slight possibility that he might be able to restore operations, given enough time, tones of metal and a unlimited supply of patience.

"So what now?" Helen asked, drumming her fingers on the edge of her wheelchair. "We need Sonic, what happens if Eggman gets any idea's?" Tails sighed, slouching his shoulders.

"We'll just have to deal with him ourselves." Okida replied, pushing himself off from the wall. "Sonic's been defending us for years, I think it's high time we defend our own family and friends." The bat walked up to the side of the body and looked Sonic down with compassionate eyes. "Let's do blue boy here proud."

The Egg Carrier 3 had been awaiting there the highest reaches of the astrosphere for some time now, allowing maximum connection capabilities for the dozen 'dropships' in orbit, awaiting only the command from the Doctor himself to begin their decent. Eggman's grandest plan had all gone swimmingly thus far, apart from a few loses here and there; most of which his campaign could cope without.

The Doctor's surviving elite robots all stood to attention at the back of the large display hanger within the giant battleship. Metal Knuckles was by far the strongest, made in specification to mimic the fighting style of Knuckles the Echidna. His red armour and metallic limbs shone with a wax and the new arm Eggman had given him after his last one had been ripped off made him look even more menacing. It's bracer was twice the size of the original and it had three claws on the end instead of two. Despite the weight suddenly put on the right hand side, the robotic echidna maintained it's balance.

The next was Egg Robo, another robot to be created for the Emerald Grand Prix. This one mimicked Eggman himself and unlike the others, whose whole purpose was combative perfection, this unit had an advanced artificial intelligence that allowed it to out think most foes. Still, as a defensives precaution a most efficiently missile defence system had been added. It stood perfectly still in attention, the two red eyes staring off into space.

The third was final robot was E1004: Theta, the flam throwing E1000 built by Eggman during his first attack upon G.U.N with the Egg Carrier 3. It was shaped very much like an ordinary E100 unit, only with a pair of large flame throwers in stead of hands and it's arched legs had been replaced by a bulkier looking pair, that while didn't allow it to move very fast, provided a steadily foundation from which to launch it's attacks.

The two hence bots which had been Eggman's loyal sidekicks since the beginning sat at their posts, far too busy running the Egg Carrier's systems to be interested at present in what the would be dictator was doing. Eggman himself was standing in the centre of the chamber with a single shaft of light from above illuminating him. He was standing before a complex set of monitors, each one showing a different human face. These where the supporters that he had been surprises to learn that he had on Earth. It was apparent, that man kind was not as unified as he was lead to believe. Quite the opposite in fact. Before his arrival, they had been more interested in fighting each other than actual peace. Which was why these men had approached him with their proposal.

"G.U.N is still in chaos." One of them remarked flatly, replying to a remark made by another of their number. "If we attack now, we can take advantage of the situation before they get their act together."

"Saddler has been taken." The other, a short man with a weight problem replied. "And they have the evidence, information about our technological capabilities and our base locations. Some o our technology has already been stolen."

"All the more reason for us to strike now." Eggman put in before anyone else could start arguing. "Gentlemen, if you need assurance, I've prepared a little demonstration of my latest piece of technology." A wide grin spread from ear to ear. "I promise, it will belay all your fears." He stepped aside to reveal a complex looking machine behind him. A multitude of cables and wires ran across the floor like a spiders web to a heap of metal that seemed to the segmented pieces of a robot, all connected yet hardly pieces together. Eggman clicked the fingers, a side door opened and one of his lower cast robots emerged, dragging behind him a mobian. It was a rat with black fur and yellow scaly tail, who was kicking and screaming for all he was worth. The robot, a small creation only about the size of a trashcan, dragged the mobian over to a centre of this strange contraption and placed him firmly upon a metallic circle in the ground. Before he could resistant, metal restraints flew up, pinning his arms and legs to the floor. The rat screamed for mercy, but Eggman simply sneered at him as he clicked his fingers again and the machinery behind the mobian came to life. Instantly, a thick culmination of wires lanced out from the depths of it, entangling themselves around the helpless rat, followed by thick cables and slowly, the armoured pieces pulled themselves upward threatening to crash down on top of him. Before the rat could even scream, they descended upon him, snatching his body up and shutting it behind a thick steal door. Those on the monitors watched intently, some in wonder and some in horror as the armoured pieces repositioned themselves becoming a humanoid robotic figure over six foot tall with long claws on one hand a menacing looking laser plaster on the other. Thick dark grey limbs lined with armour and a glowing red visor. "Marvellous isn't it?" Eggman asked, turning back as his the newest edition to his army knelt before him. "A revolutionary robotics technology that uses the mobians own life force to operate. I call it, a Badnik. A tireless robotic worker, solider, assassin or anything I want it to be." He patted his new creation on the top of his head. "Once I establish my power base, I can have thousands of these units in production by the end of a month."

"It's certainly….impressive." One of them began. "But that alone will not bring us victory. G.U.N is on the alert." Eggman's smiled lessened, but did not disappear.

"I have also made extreme advances in construction technology." He tapped his pal over the side of a computer panel and in response, a small hole opened up and a small glass jar rose upward into sight. Smiling, the doctor reached into his pocket and withdrew a small remote control. Pressing a few buttons, the lid unscrewed itself a thick green cloud came flying out. Eggman reached into his other pocket and produced a jagged hung of metal. Instantly, the cloud sensed it's presence and surrounded it and all could see the substance reforming before their eyes. It took a whole three minutes, but eventually the cloud had transformed it into a small optical device for a Dreadnaught unit, one of Eggman's largest robots. Once It's job had been finished, the thick cloud returned to it's jar. "Nano-bots." Eggman elaborated, showing them the fine work of his little toys. "They can construct a whole Dreadnaught in less than half an hour. If put into proper use, then can create and establish entire factories and buildings in half the time it used to. With these, coupled with my present manufacturing capabilities, I can conquer the United States in half in the time it would normally take me." He gave those on the monitors a glare over his shoulder. "Do I have any more doubters?" All of them looked either confused, terrified or in the midst of absolute horror. Just the impression of his new technology he had been hoping for. "Good. I take it that nasty little ground to orbital gun Hexagon built is disabled?" There was a brief moment of hesitation before someone replied.

"Our forces seized it a few hours ago. It won't be a problem." Eggman smacked a fist into his palm behind his back.

"Excellent. My army is on it's way. Sit tight boys, I'll be there momentarily." With that, all the screens went black as the signal cut out. Now that he didn't have to keep up the calm exterior he chuckled to himself, rubbing his hands together in glee. Those idiots actually believed he was here to help them with their insignificant problems. What total fools! As soon as they had served their purpose, he would cast them aside like the disposable things they were. Eggman was interested in only one thing, establishing his empire. And he didn't care how he trampled over to do so. Within hours, if the fates were with him, he would have a significant foot hold on the planet.

"These Elite are quite helpful in their own way sir." Decoe remarked. Eggman simply furrowed his brow, maintaining his grin.

"It's my way of the highway, you should know that by now." Eggman replied. "Once they've given me what I want, I have every intention of enslaving them along with the rest of mankind." Grinning inanely, he spun on one heal to face his two hence bots. "Signal the invasion fleet. It's show time." He rubbed his hands together and Becoe and Decoe carried out his orders.

High above, after receiving the mission commence code, the giant egg shape fleet of ships began to descend. Glowing orange as they encountered atmospheric friction, Eggman's greatest army began it's journey. Down on the planet's surface, deep within the reaches of some Jungle, Big the Cat looked up as a low rumbling noise reached his ears. Just above him, the cat could see a collection of orange dots of light that seemed to be growing big.

"Look Froggy." He said, nudging the amphibian on his shoulder. "Shooting Stars…."

* * *

And so ends ADVANCED. Sonic in a coma, Shadow missing, Metal Sonic half dead and Eggman set to begin a lighting conquest. Find out what happens in the new series, Sonic X series 3: Dark Ages!

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Well----it's been over half a year but it's done. An entire season of Sonic X in the bag, and another one on the way.

I want to thank their reviewers for giving me the motivation to continue. Without that, It's doubtful I would have found the strength of will to lift a finger.

A few things I want to make clear:

1: Metal Sonic will return!

2: Fang will also return!

3: A Sonic Shuffle Saga will begin near the start of the new series. Trust me with the plot, I know what I'm doing.

4: Eggman's Empire will be turned into far greater a threat. But I'm letting nothing else go about the storyline.

5: Amy's age is elevated to seventeen because it's hard to create a relationship between two people if one of them is twelve and the other is far older. Sonic is around eighteen and Amy, 17. Just for the fic…

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What you think of the character includes of Bean, Bark and Emerl for the chapters; and I want honest opinions about my own characters as well, try to include those in reviews please....

Ok then, so I'll see you again in DARK AGES, coming soon in the new year. Sometime towards the end of January. Keep an eye on my user page for it… watch this space.


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